Fashion group Sosandar achieved its first full year of profitability in 2022 after a series of deals with major high street retailers.
Group revenues jumped 44 per cent yea-on-year to £42.5million in the 12 months to 31 March, up from £29.5million the previous year, as average order values rose 8 per cent to £97.27.
Sosandar expects to confirm an annual pre-tax profit of at least £1.6million, against a loss of £600,000 the previous year.
Upbeat: Sosandar reached its first full year of profitability in 2022, according to a trading update
The expected profit is below consensus forecasts of £1.9million, a miss Sosandar pinned on forward recruitment plans.
Order numbers increased by 22 per cent to 620,977 over the period, of which 148,382 were from new customers and 472,595 were from existing customers. Average order frequency rose 3 per cent to 2.34 times a year.
The group, which maintained a gross profit margin of 56.1 per cent, said trading with its third party partners, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Next, The Very Group and JD Williams, had been ‘extremely strong’.
January and February trading at sales and gross margin level was ‘in line with the Board’s expectations’, and March sales were up 32 per cent on a year ago.
Net cash stood at £10.5million as of 31 March, against £4.2million by 30 September 2022, ‘following the successful equity fundraise of £5.5million of net proceeds in February,’ Sosandar added.
Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-chief executives of Sosandar, said: ‘Sosandar has grown from a true start-up business just six years ago to a brand which is delivering multi-million-pound revenue and is profitable.’
The bosses added: ‘While the macro-economic environment remains challenging, and we remain highly vigilant, we continue to demonstrate that our differentiated model is capable of achieving sustained profitable growth.
‘We remain confident in the long-term opportunity for Sosandar, as reflected in Q4 FY23 in the acceleration of our investment in the next stage of our development.
‘We see a number of opportunities for further growth both on our own site and through our third party partners in the coming months and beyond as we continue to move forward with our objective to make Sosandar one of the largest womenswear brands globally.’
Sosandar shares fell today and were down 1.81 per cent or 0.43p to 23.32p this morning, having fallen by 18 per cent in the past 12 months.
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