Online retail giant Very Group has reported a pre-tax profit of £6.1m for the six months to 28 December 2024, marking a return to profitability despite a drop in sales. This comes after the Merseyside-based company that includes Littlewoods posted a pre-tax loss of £2m during the same period in 2023.
However, the half-year results also reveal a decline in total revenue from £1.22bn to £1.17bn over the period. In its most recent full year, Very Group reported a revenue of £2.12bn and a pre-tax loss of £15.8m.
The group, owned by the billionaire Barclay family and chaired by former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, commented: "As expected, the market in Q2 FY25 continued to prove challenging given ongoing economic pressures."
It added: "As we continue to focus on higher margin sales and cost discipline through the remainder of FY25, we expect to see a continued strengthening of the profitability of our business."
The revenue of the Very brand fell by 3.2 per cent to £1.02bn while Littlewoods' sales dropped by 15.3 per cent to £109.2m. Very Ƶ's largest category, electrical, saw its sales fall by 4.5 per cent "as a result of annualising against a quarter which included significant gaming product releases", as reported by .
The company added: "Toys, gifts and beauty also annualised against a year in which we heavily invested in the category, however performed strongly over our peak period.
"As such, the category declined slightly by 0.6 per cent year on year, and within this we achieved growth of 3.1 per cent in toys and 6.3 per cent in beauty.
"The home category is of strategic importance as we prioritise higher margin sales, and in Q2 we saw growth of 7.3 per cent compared to the prior year.
"This was largely due to an increase in sales of home accessories, textiles and upholstery."
Very noted that fashion and sports experienced a six per cent decline “in a heavily discounted and contracting market”. However, it highlighted that excluding the impact of Nike, there was a reported rise of 1.7 per cent in fashion and a substantial 18.4 per cent increase in sport.
Don't miss the latest news and analysis with our regular North West newsletters – sign up here for free
