My-Wardrobe losses widen as it invests in ambitious expansion plan

The main exceptional costs were down to property fees incurred when relocating key functions from Nottingham to London in July 2010 - a total of around £400,000 - and the creation of some new senior management roles.

Despite the loss, the company grew its revenue 75% to £12.7m. Trading EBIDTA stood at £3.1m, up from £1.8m in 2009/10.

UK sales, before returns, soared 90% year-on-year and the average order value of £184 grew 25% on the previous year.

Year-on-year sales in Europe jumped 110%, with an average order value of £189, up 11%.

Sales across the rest of the world were up 120% with average order values (AOV) up 34% to £219.

Bringing on board new brands including Marc by Marc Jacobs and 3.1 Phillip Lim for autumn 11 and Burberry Brit and Issa for spring 12 had helped push up AOV growth.

My-Wardrobe said it was taking steps to reduce reliance on the UK market, introducing plans for international expansion.

Sarah Curran, founder and chief executive of my-wardrobe.com, said: “In line with the investment taken on, we relocated to a new London headquarters to facilitate the relocation of the Nottingham-based studio and editorial functions to London.  With the increased studio size and a move to a larger Nottingham fulfilment centre, as well as increased  team resources across all key departments, we have been able to provide a robust fulfilment platform creating a 10 year growth infrastructure.   

“This investment reflects the company’s confidence in its future growth plans and this confidence is shared with our shareholder base.  We could not  have fulfilled the continued growth, especially with that of the international sales growth, without making this step change in capacity. Our trading performance since last July has proved that this investment was necessary to enable the performance and underpin the future growth of the business.” 

The etailer has revamped its website to prepare it for overseas growth. It now offers localised language and currency options in Scandinavia which will be rolled out into Australia and the Middle East.

A round of funding with existing investors last September raised £2.3m to support infrastructure development. The company expects this will help provide sufficient working capital and help it reach profitability in the short-term.

Tight cost control will help the company reach profitability in the short-term and be cash generative, it said in a statement.

My-Wardrobe is to hire a chief executive to take over from founder Sarah Curran in the next couple of months. The new boss will focus on global expansion while Curran turns her attention to user experience, creative direction and further development of the brand and the website.