Sales continue to boom at young fashion etail group Boohoo

Young fashion etailer Boohoo has revealed that sales leapt 53% to £183.6m in the three months to 31 May as it achieved strong growth across all channels and markets.

UK sales were up 49% to £110m, while the Rest of Europe was up 82% to £22.3m, USA was up 75% at £31.4m and the Rest of World was up 24% at £19.2m. Overall gross margin was up 100bps at 52.2%.

On a brand by brand basis boohoo.com was up 12% (versus last year's record Q1 growth) with a gross margin of 52%, while PrettyLittleThing sales rocketed by 158% to £97.2m with a gross margin of 58.7%, up 490bps, driven by strong full-price sell-through.

Nasty Gal, the US-based etailer whose IP and certain assets the group acquired in February 2017, delivered sales up 49% to £7.2m and a gross margin of 58.9% in a performance that was in-line with expectations.

The business said that trading in Q1 overall had been strong and in-line with expectations and that it remained confident full-year group revenue growth would be between 35% and 40% with an adjusted EBITDA margin between 9% to 10%.

"We are very pleased with the group's results for the first quarter of the financial year. Our multi‐brand strategy is delivering above‐market rates of growth globally. Significant market share gains have been achieved in all of our key focus markets, with our compelling combination of the latest fashion at incredible prices, backed by great customer service resonating strongly with our customers. The scale of group revenue is aligning with our ambition to become one of the dominant global online retailers and our focus on profitability continues to deliver industry‐ leading margins," said joint CEOs Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane.

"Our infrastructure continues to see record levels of investment as we invest ahead of our growth curve and develop a distribution network capable of supporting £3bn of net sales globally. The distribution centre extension and automation project at Burnley remain on track to complete towards the end of the financial year, with PrettyLittleThing's move to its own warehouse expected to complete early in the second half of the financial year.

"We remain highly encouraged by our performance in the first quarter and confident of our expectations for the remainder of the year and beyond as we continue to execute on our winning strategy," the pair added.