(Alliance News) - eve Sleep PLC on Tuesday posted a sharply narrowed first half loss and said that more consumers are turning to e-commerce to make "big ticket" purchases.
Shares in the online mattress business were 9.7% lower at 5.80 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
In the six months ended June 30, revenue slipped 5.4% to GBP12.2 million from GBP12.9 million. Cost cuts helped slim its pretax loss to GBP1.2 million from GBP6.6 million a year earlier.
Administrative expenses were 45% lower year-on-year at GBP6.3 million from GBP11.5 million.
"This has been a highly unusual and complex trading period. eve has benefitted significantly from the accelerated switch to online, the temporary closure of high street retailers, and the recent increased consumer investment in the home, which, combined with the hard work on the rebuild strategy, has allowed us to see the fruits of our labour a little sooner than we anticipated," Chief Executive Officer Cheryl Calverley said.
For the whole of 2020, eve Sleep expects revenue of at least GBP22 million, down from GBP23.9 million recorded in 2019.
"Initially one of the slower categories to transition to online purchasing, there has been increasing willingness on the part of consumers to purchase big ticket items online, with Euromonitor predicting that the online furniture market will be the second fastest growing retail category, with online purchase penetration expected to increase by 55% between 2018 and 2023," eve Sleep said.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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