Optimism despite stagnating online retail
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 had written that sales in the E-Commerce is stagnating. In its press release on the results of the current study „E-Commerce Market Germany 2024“, EHI nevertheless expressed a somewhat optimistic tone.
According to the institute, the 1,000 companies with the highest sales Online shops only recorded a minimal decline in sales in Germany.
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 per cent year-on-year to 968.4 million euros in the first half of 2024/2025. 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 with regard to the financial results. The company reports an increase in the gross margin in the second quarter to 37.9% due to optimised stock 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 autumn/winter season confirm our strategy and lead us to increase our earnings outlook for the financial year.“
Forecast
According to the press release, the Executive Board has raised its forecast for adjusted EBITDA for the 2024/2025 financial year to between EUR 15 million and EUR 35 million. The previous forecast for EBITDA was a corridor of 10 to 30 million euros.
The sales forecast has been set at growth of 1 to 7 per cent (previously 1 to 10 per cent). The Executive Board continues to anticipate double-digit growth rates for the 2025/2026 financial year.