The Very Group, which operates digital retailers Very and Littlewoods, has today announced its full-year results for the 52 weeks ending 29 June 2024.
It said that a “resilient top line and careful management” saw pre-exceptional operating profit grow 17.1% to £218.3 million, versus £186.5 million for the previous year, its highest level since FY19.
Meanwhile, EBITDA grew 8.4% to £267.6 million versus £246.9 million the previous year.
Very UK revenue increased 0.7% to £1.84 billion (from £1.82 billion in FY23), while group revenue declined 1% to £2.13 billion. The underlying retail performance was “ahead of the online non-food retail market” and delivered growth in market share for Very UK.
Fashion and sports sales declined 5.5% year-on-year in “a challenging and contracting market”. However, certain categories continued to perform strongly, such as premium fashion, which was up 15.5%, casual womenswear (+3%) and watches (+3.6%).
Beauty, gifts and toys grew 3% year-on-year, following a particularly strong peak trading period. Sales across toy ranges (+7.7%) and personal care (+15.5%) were “notable highlights”.
Robbie Feather, CEO at The Very Group, said: “Our unique business model, combining multicategory digital retail with flexible ways to pay, is more relevant than ever for our customers. In a challenging environment, our results reflect a resilient retail performance that remained ahead of the UK online non-food market, as well as a continued strong Very Finance performance.
“This top line resilience coupled with our continual focus on strong cost management, has driven robust earnings growth in the year. Our results are thanks to the inherent strength of our business model and our loyal and growing customer base. This is underpinned by the tireless work of our people and the benefits of our customer focused investment.”
In the period, Very continued to expand its retail assortment so customers “have more choice than ever”. In particular, a number of new brands were introduced in fashion, such as Seasalt Cornwall and Diesel, and sports, such as Oakley and Veja.
Feather added: “We are relentlessly focused on our customers’ needs and are adept at continuous transformation to make sure we meet and beat their expectations. We continue to invest in finding new ways to serve our customers, enhancing their shopping experience and giving them access to our wide range of products covering almost every area of life. This is then supported by the convenience and breadth of our flexible ways to pay.
“We can look back on our FY24 performance with pride and I am confident that we have a great platform on which to build further.”
Electrical continues to be Very UK’s largest category by retail sales, growing 0.9% despite annualising against the incredibly strong sales in air fryers in the prior year. That is underpinned by the performances in computing (+9.9%), Apple products (+8.5%) and mobiles, tablets and wearable tech (+7.5%).
Despite poor weather impacting garden (-16.5%), Very only saw a slight decline in its home category (-0.7%), reflecting resilience in the market.
The retailer saw growth in nursery (+15.2%) and beds (+6.2%), but this was offset by declines in garden, upholstery (-5.1%) and home textiles (-2.7%).
