Optimism despite stagnating online trade
About You has raised its outlook for the 2024/2025 financial year. The Hamburg-based online retailer is issuing the new forecast as a result of improved business figures for the first half of 2024/2025.
At the beginning of October, the EHI Retail Institute wrote that e-commerce sales were stagnating. In its press release on the results of the current study "E-Commerce Market Germany 2024", the EHI nevertheless expressed a somewhat optimistic tone.
According to the institute, the 1,000 top-selling online stores in Germany only recorded a minimal decline in sales.
The times of declining sales appear to have been overcome, writes the EHI. However, online retail in Germany is apparently still unable to achieve the previous double-digit growth rate for the time being.
Strengthening profitability
In the first half of 2024/2025, About You was able to increase its adjusted EBITDA to 12.8 million euros, according to the online retailer's press release. According to its own statement, the About You Group has now reported significant increases in EBITDA for six consecutive quarters.
Turnover grew by 2.3% to 968.4 million euros in the first half of 2024/2025 compared to the same period of the previous year. According to the company, rising customer and order figures led to the higher turnover.
The online retailer also shows that it was worth taking various strategic and operational measures to improve its financial results. For example, the company reports an increase in the gross margin to 37.9% in the second quarter due to optimized inventory levels and a lower discount intensity in the online fashion market. Administrative costs were also reduced.
"With a significant improvement in EBITDA and growing sales, we achieved convincing results despite the seasonally weaker second quarter, which usually has lower margins. Our efficiency measures are working, while at the same time we are making targeted investments in marketing to drive our growth," explains Tarek Müller, co-founder and co-CEO of About You Group. Müller continued: "The development in the first half of the year and the strong start to the fall/winter season confirm our strategy and lead us to increase our earnings outlook for the financial year."
Forecast
According to the press release, the Management Board has raised its forecast for adjusted EBITDA for the 2024/2025 financial year to between EUR 15 million and EUR 35 million. Previously, a corridor of EUR 10 to 30 million was given as the forecast for EBITDA.
The sales forecast has been set at growth of 1% to 7% (previously 1% to 10%). The Management Board continues to expect double-digit growth rates for the 2025/2026 financial year.