Global Fashion Group narrows losses as sales spike

The business, which operates four ecommerce sites in Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – including Russia and Ukraine – said it “significantly reduced” EBITDA losses to €49.8m (£43m) in the year to December 31, 2018.

Global Fashion Group did not provide an EBITDA loss figure for 2017.

Full-year revenues from its websites – The Iconic, Zalora, Dafiti and Lamoda – jumped 18.7% year on year to €1.15bn (£1bn).

Net merchandise value spiked 22.5% to €1.45bn (£1.25bn).

Global Fashion Group’s active customer base swelled 14.7% to 11.4 million during the 12-month period. Net merchandise value per active customer advanced 6.8% on a constant currency basis, while order numbers climbed 22.2% to 27.5 million. Average order value remained broadly flat, edging up 0.3%.

The group’s Asia Pacific business demonstrated the strongest sales growth, clocking up a 33.3% spike in full-year revenue to €409m (£353.2m). But gross margins decreased as a result of price investment at Zalora.

Revenues from Latin America reached €359m as the region broke even on an adjusted EBITDA basis for the first time.

Full-year sales in the CIS region grew 6.7% on a constant currency basis to €376m.

Global Fashion Group co-chief executives Christoph Barchewitz and Patrick Schmidt said the results represented “a year of significant progress” for the business.

They added in a statement: “We continued to execute our growth strategy, building new and strengthening existing brand partnerships as well as enhancing our inspiring and seamless customer experience.”