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The Very Group has returned to profitability posting a pre-tax profit of £6.1m for the 26 weeks ended 28 December 2024, despite a drop in sales.
The company’s revenues saw a 4.5% decrease to £1.17bn during the period, with revenue for the Very UK brand down 3% to £1.02bn.
Very UK saw its retail sales decline 3.1% to £819.2m, as a result of a 4.5% fall in electricals and 6% drop in fashion due to a “heavily discounted and contracting market”.
The decline in electrical sales, the retailer’s largest market, was put down to “annualising against a quarter which included significant gaming product releases”.
Despite this, the company stated that “continued diligent cost control” delivered a 17.4% increase in adjusted EBITDA up to £150m.
Alongside this, the company saw strong growth in its home and sports category with both increasing 7.3% and 18.4% respectively.
Very Group expects its profitability to continue in the second half of the year as it continues to focus on “higher margin sales and cost discipline”.
The Very Group stated: “As we continue to focus on higher margin sales and cost discipline through the remainder of FY25, we expect to see a continued strengthening of the profitability of our business.”
It comes after the group cut ties with HSBC, the bank which ran its customer loan portfolio worth around £1.8bn for a decade.
The online retailer instead handed over responsibility of the securitisation of its buy now, pay later offer, to Natwest.
Very provides finance options for the purchase of items such as clothes, toys and household appliances. It is estimated that around 90% of all Very’s sales are made through customer loans.
