AO World upgrades full year guidance after strong first half performance
AO has upgraded its full year guidance after posting a rise in first half sales and profit.
In the six months to 30 September, revenue increased by 6.3% to £512.1 million while adjusted pre-tax profit climbed by 29.5% to £17.1 million to mark continued progress on that front.
B2C retail revenue grew by 12.8% despite a tough summer market due to lower product pricing and poor summer weather leading to weaker demand for cooling products.
John Roberts, AO’s founder and chief executive of AO, said: “I’m delighted to report another successful six months for AO during which our main B2C Retail business has returned to double digit growth alongside making more progress towards our medium-term ambition of delivering a PBT margin of over 5%.
“We’ve had a Morecambe and Wise summer sales period; all the right volumes just not in the right categories. The wet summer weather meant we sold fewer fridges and air conditioning units and more tumble driers than we had planned. Overall, our team did a fantastic job to play this out as a satisfying score draw.
“Our laser focus on costs and efficiency remains which ensures, as planned, that profit grew faster than sales on the growth we’ve delivered.”
AO announced in October that it was acquiring Music Magpie to strengthen its capability and value capture in the mobile and consumer technology categories while also improving its ESG credentials.
After upgrading its full year guidance, AO now expects adjusted pre-tax profit to be between £39 million and £44 million and group revenue to come in at £1.09 billion to £1.13 billion, with growth of at least 10% in B2C retail.
Roberts added: “None of this has happened by accident and I’m grateful to the entire AO team, our suppliers and partners for their continued support and hard work.
“We’re now well into peak trading with customers responding positively to the thousands of unbeatable deals we’re offering for the Black Friday period”
