Online shopping giant Very Group's pre-tax profits surged by almost 70% while its revenue jumped to a record level during its latest financial year.
The Merseyside-headquartered group, which includes the Very and Littlewoods brands, has reported pre-tax profits of £81.7m for the 12 months to July 31, 2021, up 68.8% year on year.
Group revenue also increased 13% to £2.317bn, with Very's revenue rising by 18.2% to £1.878bn.
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The number of group customers also went up by 7.6% to 4.82 million, helped by a rise in Very's customers by 12.4% to 3.82 million.
However, the Very Pay platform's revenue decreased by 8.6% to £359.6m "owing to higher levels of customer payments, reflecting enhanced credit decisioning and improved quality of underlying debtor book".
CEO Henry Birch said: "I am pleased to report outstanding group performance, including record revenue, continued profit growth and strong cashflow generation.
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"Whether working remotely, educating and entertaining the kids, updating their homes or simply wanting to look and feel good, we’ve given millions of families the items they need via an extensive range of flexible payment products.
"We’ve done this while moving our company forward operationally and strategically, from continuous digital customer experience improvements and developing our Very Pay platform to extending next day delivery cut off thanks to our highly automated fulfilment centre.
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"I am most proud, however, of our colleagues. Through their dedication, adaptability and ingenuity, they consistently delivered for our customers while adjusting to new ways of working, with many facing personal tests.
"The current environment is not without challenge, but our pandemic experience has shown us that our multi-category offer, combining leading brands with our Very Pay platform, is relevant to an increasingly wide number of customers.
"We are in good shape to face any future uncertainty, and remain confident that we are well positioned to take advantage of a market and customer behaviour that is moving towards our model."