(Alliance News) - Sosandar PLC on Tuesday said it expects to report a loss for the 2024 financial year, despite an improved second-half performance.
The Cheshire, England-based online women's fashion brand made a profit of GBP1.1 million in the second half of financial 2024, but a GBP1.3 million loss in the first half, meant a "marginal loss" for the year of GBP200,000.
This compared to a pretax profit of GBP1.6 million in financial 2023, and fell below market expectations for a pretax profit of GBP100,000.
Sosandar expects annual revenue of GBP46.3 million for the year ended March 31, up 9.0% from GBP42.5 million the year prior. This was slightly below market predictions of GBP46.8 million.
Sosandar shares were down 10% to 12.34 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, strong trading with partners Next PLC and Marks & Spencer PLC has driven a growth in brand awareness, and Sosandar reported "substantial progress" towards the opening of its first retail stores.
Sosandar's website remains the "bedrock" of the brand, strengthened with the launch of its app in July 2023, it said.
Co-Chief Executive Officers Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said: "We have delivered a robust financial performance for financial 2024, delivering a profitable second half, accelerating revenue growth whilst at the same time growing our margin and generating cash. This performance has been achieved against one of the most challenging backdrops our industry has experienced and is testament to how our customers feel about our on-trend, affordable, long-lasting, lifestyle appropriate clothes."
Hall and Lavington added: "We enter the new financial year well-placed, with a strong cash position in order to execute the next stage of our growth strategy. April trading has been strong with continued improvement in profitability, driven in particular by gross margin. We fully expect that we will deliver more milestones in financial 2025 as we open our first physical retail stores and continue to take the Sosandar brand to more customers across the UK and worldwide."
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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Sosandar (SOS)