Debenhams is back in the black thanks to strong sales and growth in its marketplace model.
The online department store reported a pre-tax profit of £3.27m in the year to 29 February, up from the £721,000 loss the previous year.
Sales more than halved from £87.1m to £39.73m, while gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 65% to £359.69m.
Dan Finley, CEO of Debenhams and parent company Boohoo Group, said: “Debenhams is an iconic British heritage brand. We bought it out of administration and are making great progress transforming it into Britain’s online department store.
“The market place model is stock-light, capital-light and highly profitable, as these results show.”
He added that the current year has started “strongly” with “lots of opportunity ahead”, as the retailer focuses on driving value for shareholders.
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The retailer’s brand and website were snapped up by Boohoo for £55m back in 2021 after it fell into administration, and its stores were closed when it was liquidated.
Boohoo relaunched the Debenhams.com website in April 2021. Since then the retailer has been been on a mission to revive itself.
It launched a marketplace model and back in June brought back its ‘Designers at Debenhams’ programme as it continues to grow its fashion offering.
In October, Boohoo revealed it was considering a break up of the group. The fashion giant said it was exploring its options to “unlock and maxmise shareholder value”.
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