Hamburg-based online fashion retailer About You Holding SE made the targeted progress in earnings in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. In view of the adverse framework conditions, however, sales only marginally exceeded the corresponding level of the previous year. This emerges from an interim report published by the company on Wednesday.
In the months of March to May, group sales amounted to EUR 507.1 million, which corresponds to an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The e-commerce specialist emphasized that the slight improvement was achieved “despite the strong basis for comparison, as well as continued high inventories in the fashion industry and the subdued consumer climate due to the cool weather in Europe”.
“Disciplined cost reductions” are having an effect
Although the gross margin shrank in the “continued discount-intensive environment in the fashion industry”, the group was able to significantly improve its earnings. “Disciplined cost reductions in the areas of marketing and administration” ensured that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted for special effects reached a level of EUR 4.2 million. In the same period of the previous year, a deficit of 28.8 million euros was posted here. The reported net loss was reduced from 44.4 million euros to 23.8 million euros (-46.4 percent).
With the positive adjusted EBITDA, the company already achieved a goal in the first quarter that it had actually set itself for the entire financial year. Co-CEO Tarek Müller was correspondingly satisfied: “In the first quarter of 2023/2024, we already exceeded the break-even point in what continues to be a challenging market environment,” he explained in a statement. “By taking strategic and operational measures early on, we were able to further optimize our inventories, logistics, and marketing and personnel planning. This is now paying off: Our measures are beginning to take effect and are delivering visible results.”
The online retailer confirms its forecast for the year
“Together with the sales growth achieved, we laid the foundation for long-term profitable growth for our group in the past quarter,” emphasized Müller. In view of the latest results, the online retailer confirmed its sales forecast for the current financial year. He thus continues to expect an increase of one to eleven percent compared to the previous year.