The Berlin online fashion retailer Zalando SE presented its results for the third quarter of the 2025 financial year on Thursday. The current figures also include contributions from About You for the first time, after the takeover of the competitor was completed in July.
Group sales increase by 26.5 percent
In the period from July to September, group sales amounted to 3.02 billion euros. This corresponded to an increase of 26.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The majority of the increase was due to the takeover of About You. On a pro forma basis – i.e. taking into account About You’s previous year’s figures – revenues rose by 7.5 percent. The gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew by 21.6 percent to 4.21 billion euros.
The number of active customers rose to 61.4 million. “This growth was driven by the merger with About You and strong new customer acquisition across both companies,” it said in a statement.
The group also made progress in terms of operating profit. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) adjusted for special effects, which had been 92.7 million euros in the same quarter of the previous year, increased to 96.3 million euros. However, higher share-based payments, acquisition-related expenses and restructuring costs caused reported EBIT to fall from 69.5 to 49.1 million euros. The net profit attributable to the shareholders shrank from 44.3 to 14.8 million euros.
Co-CEO David Schröder was satisfied with the current results: “The results of the third quarter provide proof that we are successfully implementing our strategy. We are consistently exploiting the enormous market opportunities to achieve profitable growth in both the B2C and B2B sectors,” he explained in a statement.
The annual forecasts remain unchanged
Looking to the future, Schröder highlighted, among other things, a new, five-year strategic partnership with the German Football Association (DFB), which was presented on Thursday. This cooperation will “further strengthen our sports business and offer our customers an incomparable sports experience,” he emphasized.
Given the latest results, management stuck to its full-year guidance. For 2025, it still expects consolidated sales and GMV to each increase by four to seven percent on a pro forma basis. The target for adjusted EBIT remains at 550 to 600 million euros.
The group had already announced a new share buyback program on Wednesday evening. It envisages acquiring up to 5.5 million of its own shares for a total purchase price of up to 100 million euros. These should be used for “commitments arising from share-based compensation programs”.