MySale posts first-half profit as improvements to business take hold

The fashion specialist, in which Arcadia and Sports Direct tycoons Sir Philip Green and Mike Ashley are investors, recorded interim underlying EBITDA of A$1.5m compared with a loss of A$11.4m in the first half of last year.

Group sales at the AIM-listed business, which operates a membership model, climbed 4% to A$128.2m.

MySale has concentrated on improving gross margins and generating more lifetime value from its customers through initiatives such as increasing the proportion of its own-bought stock versus that purchased on consignment thought to personalisation programmes.

MySale’s average order value rose 17% to A$84 in the first half, when revenue per active member was up 6% to A$293.

The etailer, which generates most of its sales in Australia and New Zealand and has smaller businesses in Southeast Asia and the UK, said active member numbers have returned to growth.

MySale chief executive Carl Jackson said: “Our focus for the first half of the financial year was to restore the business to profitability and to refocus around our simplified strategy. This was successfully achieved and we were also able to grow our revenues once again.

“Gross margin has increased in all regions and while currency headwind has constrained this growth in our core [Australia and New Zealand] market, our focus on providing exceptional value and a wider range of product for our customers is proving effective.

“We are pleased with the start to the second half of the year as we have seen good momentum in revenue growth.

“There is still a lot of hard work ahead, but we have a well invested technology, marketing, buying and distribution platform capable of supporting a much bigger business, so we look to the future with confidence.”