Media
Q2 YTD results 2021
February 23, 2021
The Directors present their interim results statement of The Very Group Limited and its subsidiaries (“the Group”) for the six month period ended 31 December 2020.
Review of the business
Whilst continuing to operate through the Covid-19 pandemic, our business has continued to prove its adaptability and resilience, as demonstrated by our Q2 FY21 YTD1 results. At The Very Group, the safety and well-being of our colleagues and customers remains our priority. In line with government guidance we are ensuring the protection of our colleagues whilst we have kept our online store open for customers at a time when they need us as much as ever.
Pre-exceptional EBITDA2 increased 15.5% to £130.5m (Q2 FY20 YTD: £113.0m). The profit for the period increased to £19.5m (Q2 FY20 YTD: profit of £19.3m) after recognising exceptional items of £16.1m (Q2 FY20 YTD: £9.1m).
Group sales
Group sales3 increased by 12.1% to £1,255.2m (Q2 FY20 YTD: £1,119.5m), reflecting a significant improvement from a 0.8% year-on-year decline in Q2 FY20 YTD. Very.co.uk revenue grew 18.2% to £1,013.3m (Q2 FY20 YTD: £857.3m), benefitting from its combination of famous brands, mobile-first customer experience and options to spread the cost of purchases using credit. Littlewoods revenue was down 7.7% to £241.9m (Q2 FY20 YTD: £262.2m) as we successfully controlled the decline of the Littlewoods brand.
Retail sales
Retail sales4 increased by 16.0% with our flagship brand Very.co.uk growing retail sales by 22.6%. Our robust business model which offers a multi-category range has continued to provide resilience against adverse movements in individual product categories. In line with trends seen in Q4 FY20 consumers continue to buy into product categories to support home living and working. Electrical revenue grew by 32.7% driven by double digit growth across most categories, with the strongest performances seen in gaming, vision, computing and audio. Home grew by 28.5%, driven by customers continuing the trend of purchasing from our home accessories, home furnishings and garden tools and DIY ranges. Other categories (which represents 12% of the retail sales mix, includes toys, gifts, beauty and leisure) grew by 3.7%, resulting from solid performances across sports equipment and fitness categories, as well as beauty and fragrances, and gifts. Fashion & Sports sales decreased by 2.5%, with the second quarter of the year returning to year-on-year growth of 1.4%, following a year-on-year decline of 8.6% in the first quarter of the year. This was driven by strong performances in nightwear and celebrity designer categories. Sportswear has continued to perform strongly in the period, reporting growth of 10.4%, reflecting a trend towards customers purchasing casualwear.
Notes:
1. Q2 FY21 YTD is the 6 months ended 31 December 2020. Q2 FY20 YTD is the 6 months ended 31 December 2019.
2. Pre-exceptional EBITDA is defined on page 4 of the Financial Statements.
3. Group sales defined as net despatches excluding VAT and inclusive of Financial Services revenues and IFRS adjustments for discounts and vouchers.
4. Retail sales is on a management accounts basis excluding statutory adjustments, therefore differs to revenue from the sale of goods presented in condensed consolidated income statement.
