ONLINE fashion retailer Boohoo reported a 32 per cent revenue growth in the quarter ended May, benefiting from strong demand for dresses and going-out wear after Covid restrictions eased in the UK.
The group’s revenues rose to £486.1 million in the three months to May from £367.8m in the same period last year.
Boohoo’s UK revenues were strongest, up 50 per cent, followed by the US with a 43 per cent rise, while sales in Europe and the rest of the world fell 14 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
Sunny weather and loosening of lockdown restrictions in the UK prompted a shift towards buying going-out wears, the company said.
Sales of dresses have risen above pre-Covid levels in recent weeks, it added.
Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said the “phenomenal achievement” on sales “demonstrates the channel shift to online during the pandemic is here to stay”.
Sales were better than expected from both the group’s established brands and new labels including Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins, Boohoo said.
It also revealed plans to bring a Debenhams store back to the high street as it eyes deals with major beauty brands.
Boohoo relaunched the Debenhams website in April, selling fashion, beauty and homeware, with new ranges added, having bought the brand and website out of administration for £55m in January.
Debenhams was the UK’s second-biggest beauty retailer when it collapsed.
Boohoo is in talks to open a small Debenhams store outside of London, Lyttle said.
Separately, Lyttle defended plans to keep co-founder Carol Kane on its board despite strong criticism from some.
He said he was confident that investors would back the company’s decision to reappoint Kane as a director at its annual meeting on Friday (18).
Shareholder advisory body Glass Lewis has urged investors to block her reappointment as a director after last year’s allegations that Boohoo failed to act quickly to stop poor working conditions at its Leicester factories.
Bobby Bawa