Sosandar maintains FY guidance despite half-year loss
The group noted all channels have performed well with strong revenue growth, increased gross margin and positive pre-tax profit
Sosandar has fallen to a pre-tax loss of £1.3m in its half-year results, down from a profit of £0.1m the prior year, but maintained its full-year outlook following strong autumn trading.
The company saw revenues rise by 6% to £22.2m in the six months ended 30 September, with trading said to be in line with full year market expectations, while revenues for October and November hit £10m, a 16% increase on the same period last year.
The group noted all channels have performed well with strong revenue growth, increased gross margin, positive pre-tax profit in both months and a record month of trading in November, with similar momentum in December to date.
Over the period, the group made “substantial” progress towards opening its first own stores, with locations identified ahead of a planned launch early in FY25.
In addition, its new fashion concept stores in Sainsbury’s went live in early October, with a wide range of Sosandar product selling well in all nine stores.
Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-CEOs, said: “Over the past six months, we have made significant steps on our journey to become a multi-channel retailer whilst also expanding the reach of the Sosandar brand. We are delighted to have launched new partnerships with Sainsbury’s and Freemans, signed our first agreements with two large prestigious international third-party partners and announced that we intend to open our first own stores in Spring 2024.
“Our product remains the key driver of our success and keeps our customers returning to us for their wardrobe needs. Throughout the period, we saw growth across all product ranges with particular success in our summer occasion wear and beach and swim ranges over the summer. In the lead up to Christmas we have seen extremely strong sales across all categories with party wear, dresses, tailoring, knitwear and smart trousers being standout items.”
They added: “Trading in the second half of the financial year to date has been encouraging, in line with full year market expectations, with November a record month of trading. This strong performance has been delivered across all our channels.
“Looking ahead, we believe that the future is very bright as we take the Sosandar brand to more customers across the UK and worldwide and move further towards reaching our strategic goal of delivering £100m+ revenues and a pre-tax profit margin of at least 10% in the medium term.”
