Boohoo full-year losses widen amid 'challenging' trading conditions

(Sharecast News) - Fast-fashion retailer Boohoo reported a widening of its full-year losses on Wednesday in "challenging" trading conditions, as it was hit by inflation and weaker demand. In the year to 29 February 2024, pre-tax losses widened to £159.9m from £90.7m a year earlier, with revenue down 17% to £1.5bn. Boohoo said the revenue decline reflected its "increased focus on profitability and difficult market conditions".

Revenue growth was also dented by the growth of marketplace, with its commission-only revenue model.

Gross merchandise value (GMV) fell 13% on the year to £1.8bn as the company continued to be impacted by a difficult macro-economic environment.

Still, Boohoo hailed positive trends in the performance of core brands boohoo, boohooMAN, PrettyLittleThing, Karen Millen and Debenhams, with the decline in GMV slowing from 9% in the first half to 4% in the second, "showing a clear improvement in trajectory".

Chief executive John Lyttle said: "Despite difficult market conditions, caused by high levels of inflation and weakened consumer demand, we made continued progress in the year. I am particularly encouraged with the ongoing trend of improved performance in our core brands which saw GMV down 9% in H124 and down just 4% in H224 demonstrating increasing momentum and validating our strategy to focus on these brands which are much loved by our customer base.

"The group is now well positioned to return to growth, and we are focused on ensuring that growth is both sustainable and profitable. We will host a capital markets day in due course to provide more detail on our strategy, key growth drivers and the longer-term outlook for the group."

At 0810 BST, the shares were down 4.3% at 33.71p.