Boohoo Q1 (FY21) results15 Jun 2020 00:13
Wednesday: Boohoo (LON:BOOH) has had its share of ups and downs over the past few years, and this year’s share price moves haven’t been any different. The online retailer saw record highs in the share price in January, before a spectacular Covid-19 collapse to three-year lows, which was then followed by a recovery to new record highs last month. In an update from April, Boohoo said it wouldn’t be providing guidance for the rest of the year, even as it announced impressive full-year results for the year ended February 2020. Group revenue rose 44% to £1.235bn, with profit-before-tax jumping 54% to £92.2m. Revenues increased across all of its brands, with NastyGal rising 106% to £98.8m. The bulk of revenue still came through the Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing (PLT) brands, and it was this strength that probably helped play a part in last month’s decision to buy the remaining 34% of PLT it didn’t already own, for an initial £269.8m, rising to £323.8m if the share price holds above 491p over a six-month period. This decision came in the immediate aftermath of a short-selling attack from a fund called ShadowFall Capital, which alleged that Boohoo mis-stated its free cash flow for the year by £32bn, a claim which was swiftly refuted. The short-seller also claimed that the company was treating cash generated by PLT as though it owned the business outright, saying it could cost the company almost £1bn to buy the remaining stake. Boohoo’s purchase of that PLT stake helped put paid to that claim. Wednesday’s Q1 numbers follow a turbulent quarter, and could go a long way to putting another hole in last month’s short-seller claims, as well as reassure investors who have had quite a journey so far this year.
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