Sosandar swings to loss despite growth in revenue

In a trading update for the six months ending September 30, 2023, Sosandar reported a loss before tax of £1.3m, down from the £0.1m in profit the brand posted at the same time last year.

The fashion retailer’s sales grew 6% to £22.2m during the same period as it moved “towards a multichannel model aiming to significantly increase our addressable market”.

Sosandar also reported strong autumn trading with a record month of sales in November, with similar momentum in December so far.

The retailer said sales for October and November were more than £10m, representing “a 16% increase on the same period last year and a significant improvement on the 6% growth achieved in H1 FY24”.

Sosandar co-chief executives Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said: “Over the past six months, we have made significant steps on our journey to become a multichannel retailer whilst also expanding the reach of the Sosandar brand. We are delighted to have launched new partnerships with Sainsbury’s and Freemans, signed our first agreements with two large prestigious international third-party partners and announced that we intend to open our first own stores in spring 2024.

“Our product remains the key driver of our success and keeps our customers returning to us for their wardrobe needs. Throughout the period, we saw growth across all product ranges with particular success in our summer occasion wear and beach and swim ranges over the summer. In the lead-up to Christmas, we have seen extremely strong sales across all categories with party wear, dresses, tailoring, knitwear and smart trousers being standout items.

“Trading in the second half of the financial year to date has been encouraging, in line with full-year market expectations, with November a record month of trading. This strong performance has been delivered across all our channels.

“Looking ahead, we believe that the future is very bright as we take the Sosandar brand to more customers across the UK and worldwide and move further towards reaching our strategic goal of delivering £100m-plus revenues and a pre-tax profit margin of at least 10% in the medium term.”