LONDON (Reuters) - Boohoo (L:BOOH), the fast-growing British online fashion retailer, reported a 22 percent increase in first-half profit and raised sales guidance for the full year, underlining its position as one of the winners in a brutal clothing market.
Founded in Manchester, northern England, in 2006, Boohoo has expanded rapidly, purchasing the PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal brands at the beginning of last year.
Boohoo and fellow pure internet players, like ASOS (L:ASOS), are bucking a challenging backdrop for UK retailers, outflanking and taking market share from traditional rivals burdened with big store estates.
Boohoo, which sells own-brand clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty products online to a core market of 16 to 30-year-olds, made a pretax profit of 24.7 million pounds in the six months to August 31, up from 20.3 million pounds in the same period last year, on revenue up 50 percent to 395.3 million pounds.
For the full-year to Feb. 28 2019 Boohoo forecast revenue growth of 38 percent to 43 percent, up from previous guidance of 35 percent to 40 percent, with adjusted EBITDA margin of between 9 percent and 10 percent.
Medium term guidance of sales growth of at least 25 percent per annum and EBITDA margin of 10 percent was also reiterated by the firm.
Shares in Boohoo listed at 50 pence in 2014. They closed at 191.6 pence on Tuesday, valuing the business at 2.19 billion pounds.
