Full Year Results & Trading Update
18 August 2020
Successful year of revenue growth followed by agile response to Covid-19 and strong current trading
Sosandar PLC (AIM: SOS), the online women's fashion brand, is pleased to announce its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2020. In addition, the Company is pleased to also provide an update on trading in the current financial year.
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Download The full results are available to |
The Company is delighted with trading at the start of its current financial year. In Q1 the business successfully increased year on year revenue by 54% whilst simultaneously reducing operating costs by 71% to help drive a 69% improvement in its loss position.
- Q1 performance has continued during July:
- Revenue up 57% year on year
- Margin of 55.5% and operating costs reduced by 84% vs prior year
- 83% improvement in net loss position vs prior year
- Year to date Returns of 38% vs 50% in prior year, driven partly by product mix, but also by a shift in customer behaviour across all product categories. Even as returns begin to normalise again, we are seeing returns well below last year’s levels
- Active customers up 98% vs prior year
- Speed at which the Company has adapted to unprecedented changes in the market demonstrates the agility and versatility of the business model
- Strength in current trading underpins confidence in carefully increasing marketing activity at the end of Q2 in order to enhance customer acquisition activity
- Strong cash position of £4.34m as at 31 July 2020 demonstrates continued careful cost management
- Contracts signed with John Lewis and Next to launch on their website platforms in Q2
- Customer base up 8% up since year end whilst reducing average monthly marketing spend by 85%
- Revenue growth of 103% to £9.03m (FY2019: £4.44m)
- Gross margin of 48.5% (FY2019: 55.5%), impacted by intense period of customer acquisition with first order customer promotions alongside actions to address the impact of Covid-19 in the final month of the year
- EBITDA loss of £7.66m, including an exceptional, non-cash, accounting adjustment of £0.37m for share-based payments (FY2019: £3.49m), reflecting investment in the team, supply chain and marketing which delivered strong top line growth and has proven critical to positive trading performance during lockdown
- Year-end cash of £5.25m (FY2019: £3.65m), which reduced to £4.42m at the end of April 2020 due to the unwind of committed spend
- Investment in team, supply chain and marketing resulted in:
- 88% increase in new styles, enhancing choice for customers
- 119% increase in suppliers across seven countries, reducing supply chain risk
- 129% increase in customer database
- Active customer growth of 111% to 131,811 (FY2019: 62,214) showing continued ability to recruit and retain customers
- 128% increase in web visits to 8.03 million (FY2019: 3.51 million)
- 108% increase in orders to 214,487 (FY2019: 102,967)
- Conversion rate of 2.67% (FY2019: 2.92%) reflects longer lead time of TV customer acquisition
- Average order value (AOV) of £97.14 (FY2019: £103.19) predominantly due to high levels of new customer acquisition with first order discounts, and milder winter weather impacting product mix
| Year ended 31 March 2020 | Year ended 31 March 2019 | Change | |
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Sessions |
8,032,355 |
3,518,756 |
+128% |
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Conversion rate |
2.67% |
2.92% |
-25bps |
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Number of orders |
214,487 |
102,967 |
+108% |
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AOV |
£97.14 |
£103.19 |
-6% |
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Active customers |
131,095 |
62,214 |
+111% |
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Repeat order rate |
1.69 |
1.66 |
+2% |
Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, Co-CEOs commented:
“We’re delighted to report another year of growth, and one in which we achieved a significant shift in terms of customer base and infrastructure, providing stronger foundations for continued future growth. This proved especially valuable during lockdown where having a larger base of customers, combined with an enhanced product offering, allowed us to navigate difficult trading conditions, growing our customer base further and increasing their order frequency whilst preserving cash. This is testament to the brand and the market opportunity we identified.
We’re incredibly proud of the team for their hard work and dedication in unprecedented conditions and grateful to our supply chain and customers for their continued support.
The resilient performance achieved throughout Q1 has continued into Q2 of our current financial year. Our increasing confidence underpins our decision to begin increasing marketing spend with careful, controlled investment into customer acquisition from September to November, subject to any further impact of Covid-19.
We remain cautiously optimistic about the coming months and more excited than ever about the longer-term prospects for Sosandar.”Enquiries
| Sosandar plc | www.sosandar.com |
| Julie Lavington / Ali Hall, Joint CEOs | c/o Alma PR |
| Shore Capital | +44 (0) 20 7408 4090 |
| Patrick Castle / James Thomas / Michael McGloin Fiona Conroy (Corporate Broking) |
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| Alma PR Limited (Financial PR) | +44 (0) 203 405 0205 |
| Rebecca Sanders-Hewett / Susie Hudson / Sam Modlin | [email protected] |
About Sosandar PLC
Sosandar is an online womenswear brand, specifically targeted at a generation of women who have graduated from throwaway fashion and are looking for quality, affordable clothing with a premium, trend-led aesthetic. This is a section of the market that is currently being underserved.
Sosandar was launched in September 2016. The Sosandar business model is built around using trend-led, exclusive designs produced in-house and then manufactured using a variety of global suppliers. Sosandar caters for a growing market of fashion-conscious women, while utilising an outsourced logistics provider that can support its planned growth over the coming years.
Sosandar's founders are Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, who previously launched and ran high street fashion magazine Look, as editor and publishing director respectively. They have a combined experience of over 35 years in the fashion industry, including in the design, manufacture and sale of fashion ranges for some of the UK's high street retailers, including Debenhams, Office, Oasis and JD Williams.
More information is available at www.sosandar-ir.com