Very Group pre-tax losses widened as first quarter sales for the ecommerce giant slipped 5%.
The retailer reported its loss before tax had swelled to £22.9m in the 13 weeks to 28 September, up from the £5.8m the year before.
It came as group sales for the quarter fell 5% to £450.2m, with revenue for its flagship Very UK brand sliding 3.8% to £392.1m and Littlewoods down 14.4% to £45m.
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Retail sales for Very decreased 4.6% to £286.4m, dragged down by an 8.6% dip in fashion and sport resulting from the “heavily discounted and contracting market”.
Beauty and home rose 4.2% and 2.5% respectively over the period, while electrical dropped saw a decline of 4.4%.
The group noted that the market remains “challenging” but that it expects to see a “strengthening of the profitability of our business in FY25”.
The Very Group CEO Robbie Feather said: “Our unique business model, combining multicategory digital retail with flexible ways to pay, is more relevant than ever for our customers. In a challenging environment, our results reflect a resilient retail performance that remained ahead of the UK online non-food market, as well as a continued strong Very Finance performance.
This top line resilience coupled with our continual focus on strong cost management, has driven robust earnings growth in the year. Our results are thanks to the inherent strength of our business model and our loyal and growing customer base.”
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