AO World appoints Sophie Tomkins as non-executive director
Tomkins will join the board's Audit and Nomination Committees, with a view to her succeeding Shaun McCabe as AO's Audit Committee chair over time
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AO World has announced that Sophie Tomkins has been appointed as an independent non-executive director of the Company with effect from 1 September 2025.
AO World said Tomkins brings “extensive” board-level experience, currently serving as a non-executive director at Wilmington PLC, Virgin Wines UK PLC, and System1 Group PLC and was previously a non-executive director of Hotel Chocolat Group plc, the SnowFox Group, Cloudcall Group plc and Proactis Holdings plc.
AO added that her background in finance, combined with a strong commitment to customer service excellence, will be a “valuable asset” to the company. Tomkins will join the board’s Audit and Nomination Committees, with a view to her succeeding Shaun McCabe as AO’s Audit Committee chair over time, as part of AO’s succession planning.
Commenting on the appointment, Geoff Cooper, chairman of AO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Sophie to the board. Her broad experience across listed companies and financial markets will be valuable as AO continues to deliver on its strategic objectives.”
Earlier this year, AO World revealed that its adjusted profit-before-tax rose 27% to £44m for the year ended 31 March 2025, up from £34m in the previous year.
Alongside this, the company’s LFL group revenue grew 7%, to £1.11bn with its core B2C retail revenue rising 12% to £832m.
This growth was driven by the expansion of its Five Star membership offering as well as the broadening of its product range to around 9,000 products. Furthermore, MusicMagpie contributed an additional £30m revenue to the group for the period, after AO acquired the company in October last year.
AO stated that its revolving credit facility was increased and extended with the total facility increasing from £80m to £120m which remains undrawn and now expires in October 2028.
Looking ahead, the company expects to grow its revenue alongside posting an adjusted PBT of between £40m and £50m in the next year, despite the wider macroeconomic challenges, particularly employment cost increases.
