Very Group Q3 revenues take slight hit yet ‘outperforming’ wider market

The Very Group has published its financials for the 39 weeks ended March 30, 2024, during which it saw group revenues take a slight decline of 0.8 percent to 1,667.2 million pounds.

While the retailer reported a drop, it noted that it was “outperforming the wider market” with 1 percent growth in the revenue of Very UK to 1,440.6 million pounds.

This was countered by an 11.9 percent decline in the revenue of its owned brand Littlewoods which hit 174.5 million pounds. The fall, however, fell in line with expectations and came as part of an ongoing “decline strategy” for the brand.

Group retail sales decreased year-on-year by 1.8 percent, with stronger departments offset by a YoY 5.7 percent decline in fashion and sports retail sales.

Very said the drop was driven by a “heavily promotional environment” for general fashion, however this was not the case for premium fashion, which saw a growth of 19.4 percent.

Gross profit for the group came to 580.8 million pounds, a slight decline on the previous year’s 583.8 million pounds, and corresponding to a gross margin rate of 34.8 percent.

Pre-exceptional EBITDA, meanwhile, rose 3.8 percent to 197.4 million pounds “despite the ongoing tough market conditions”, while the margin also rose to 11.8 percent from the prior 11.3 percent.