Higher return rates impact Boohoo’s sales growth
Boohoo said today its net sales growth in the fourth quarter of FY22 was impacted by Brits’ post-pandemic ‘buy before you try attitude’ .
The company explained that the higher rate of items returned was due to changing consumption patterns, as people shifted from buying more ‘athleisure’ during the pandemic to mixing it up with different items. Boohoo expects this post-Covid trend to continue through the first half of 2023.
During the last three months, net sales increased only 7 per cent but remained in line with December’s guidance and market expectations following a strong performance in the UK market.
The retailer expects its adjusted EBITDA for the financial year ended 28 February to be around £125m, and will release results on 4 May.
“The group has delivered strong growth over the last two years, which has translated into significant market share gains,” said Boohoo’s chief executive John Lyttle.
“We are confident that pandemic-related headwinds are short-term in their nature, and our focus is to ensure the business is well positioned for growth as these headwinds ease.”
Commenting on the results, Hargreaves Lansdown’s equity analyst Matt Britzman said: “Back in December guidance was lowered by a pretty decent chunk, with the group pointing to everything from higher freight costs to Omicron concerns.
““Rebasing guidance is rarely a good thing, but the positives from this update are that they look to have stabilised which will help instil more confidence from markets.”
The retailer was forced in December to lower its guidance, dropping its expectations for net sales growth from between 20 and 25 per cent to 12 and 14 per cent due to supply chain issues and skyrocketing inflation rates, City PM reported.