Thanks to extensive cost-cutting measures, the Hamburg e-commerce specialist About You Holding SE was able to reduce its loss in the second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. However, due to persistently weak demand, the company felt compelled to cut its sales forecast for the full year.
According to an interim report published on Tuesday, group sales in the months from June to August amounted to 439.6 million euros and exceeded the corresponding previous year’s level by 2.1 percent. Compared to the first quarter, the online retailer achieved “a slight acceleration in growth” despite adverse conditions.
The austerity program continues to have an impact
Despite a lower gross margin, the company made progress on earnings thanks to significant cost reductions in fulfillment and marketing. The loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted for special effects, which was 42.8 million euros in the same quarter of the previous year, was reduced to 12.9 million euros. The reported net loss shrank from 63.4 to 46.0 million euros (-27.4 percent).
“The elimination of one-off costs for expanding the distribution network, the declining inflation dynamics and measures to reduce the costs per order contributed to the turnaround in fulfillment,” explained the company. “The marketing savings were the result of reduced campaign and event activity, including the elimination of entry campaigns in new markets.”
Management is sticking to its earnings forecast
In view of the recent savings successes, management confirmed its earnings forecast for the current financial year. It therefore continues to expect that the group of companies will “significantly improve its margin compared to the same period last year and reach the break-even point based on adjusted EBITDA”.
However, the online retailer is more cautious when it comes to sales development given the low growth in the first two quarters. “Against the background of the results achieved and the persistently challenging market environment,” the board now expects “sales growth in the lower half of the forecast range of +1 percent to +11 percent compared to the previous year,” explained About You.