(Adds shares, reaction)
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Britain's Boohoo raised
its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday on strong demand from
its young customers for brands like PrettyLittleThing and Nasty
Gal, sending the online fashion firm's shares to an all-time
high.
Shares in Boohoo, founded 14 years ago in Manchester,
northern England, rose as much as 17% to an all-time high of
285.3 pence, as it said it expected its full-year revenue to
rise between 33% and 38%, ahead of its previous 25% to 30%
guidance, which would deliver a corresponding rise in earnings.
Online retailers like Boohoo are growing fast, often at the
expense of traditional shopping outlets such as Marks and
Spencer, whose share price fall has seen the
135-year-old retailer evicted from the blue-chip FTSE 100 index
on Wednesday.
Boohoo had defied weak consumer confidence to deliver
"another stellar performance over a warm summer", analysts at
Jefferies said, forecasting a 3-4% rise in consensus for sales
and core earnings in the year to February 2020.
Boohoo, which reports first-half results on Sept.25, said it
expected margins to remain at around 10%, reflecting investments
in the three brands - MissPap, Karen Millen and Coast - it
acquired in the first half.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by James Davey and Alexander
Smith)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)