Boohoo: Prettylittlething crashes into the red as Mike Ashley battle continues

Fresh light has been shone on Boohoo’s financial struggles amid its ongoing battle with billionaire Mike Ashley.

The financial performance of some of the Manchester-headquartered group’s most well-known brands have been revealed including Prettylittlething crashing into the red and sales being slashed at Nastygal.

While Boohoo reports its group results to the London Stock Exchange, the financial accounts of its other brands are only published in detail once a year on Companies House.

The accounts have been filed as Boohoo fights to stop Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group gaining control of its operations.

Earlier this year, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Oasis reported their financial performance separately but their operations have since been taken on by Debenhams.

Debenhams is not due to file its accounts with Companies House until the end of this month.

In its most recently-filed results, Debenhams slashed its losses thanks to a surge in its sales of more than £30m.

The latest accounts for Coast have been filed with Companies House but are not yet public.

The wider Boohoo group recently posted a revenue of £807.8m for the six months to 31 August, 2024, down from £861.5m.

Its pre-tax loss also widened from £36.6m to £147.3m.

For its year to 29 February, 2024, the group’s revenue was cut from £1.76bn to £1.46bn while its pre-tax loss went from £90.7m to £159.9m.

Prettylittlething crashes to a loss

For the year to 29 February, 2024, Prettylittlething fell to a pre-tax loss of £6.5m, having posted a pre-tax profit of £22m in the prior 12 months.

Its revenue was also slashed from £634.1m to £475.8m, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

Prettylittlething’s UK revenue decreased from £362.2m to £329.6m while it fell from £62.7m to £55.3m in the rest of Europe.

In the USA, its sales was slashed from £177.5m to £67.5m and they dipped from £31.5m to £23.2m in the rest of the world.

The USA sales figures was cut because they only count revenue ip to 8 August, 2023, when the operations were transferred to Boohoo itself.

The number of active customers fell from 64m to 6m while the number of orders dipped from 19.9m to 19.1m.

Prettylittlething said: “The company saw revenue decline in all markets in the financial year as consumers were impacted by high inflation and cost of living challenges across all markets.”

On its outlook, it added: “The company continues to plan for a challenging external environment.

“Revenues are expected to decline as demand factors that impacted performance in the second half of the previous financial year continue to persist.

“These are anticipated to begin normalising in the second half with the company benefiting from the investments being made across price, product and proposition under our back to growth strategy.”

Prettylittlething was established in 2012 by brothers Umar and Adam Kamani, the sons of Boohoo co-founder Mahmud.

A majority stake in the brand was later bought by the fast-fashion giant at the start of 2017.

Sales slashed at Nastygal

Nastygal’s revenue was cut from £67.3m to £24.1m in the year to 29 February, 2024, according to its accounts.

The results have also revealed that its pre-tax loss went from £12.1m to £10.2m in the year.

In the UK, its revenue was slashed from £18.3m to £8.1m while it was cut from £38.9m to £13m in the USA.

In the rest of Europe, its sales fell from £6.2m to £1.5m and in the rest of the world, its revenue dipped from £3.7m to £1.4m.

Warehouse sinks further into the red

Warehouse was founded in 1976 and entered administration in 2020.

Its brand, assets and stock were acquired by Boohoo at the same time as the Oasis chain.

For the year to 29 February, 2024, the brand’s revenue was cut from £22m to £6.7m while its pre-tax loss widened from £991,000 to £2.4m, the accounts show.

In the UK, its revenue fell from £17.2m to £5.7m, from £3.4m to £708,000 in the rest of Europe and from £1.3m to £351,000 in the rest of the world.

Profit remains static at Karen Millen

The latest accounts for Karen Millen have revealed its pre-tax profit remained static at £8.3m during its latest financial year.

The results also show its revenue decreased from £82.1m to £70.1m in the 12 months.

In the UK, Karen Millen’s sales dropped from £51.6m to £43.8m and from £14.5m to £13.3m in the USA.

In the rest of Europe, the brand’s revenue went from £10.3m to £8.4m and it also declined from £5.6m to £4.4m in the rest of the world.

Karen Millen was founded in 1981 and has been owned by Boohoo since 2019 when it, and its sister company Coast, were bought out of administration for £18m.

The brand became online only and its standalone stores were closed.

Loss widens at MissPap

Boohoo acquired MissPap in March 2019 after it had been founded in 2015 by Ashley Ali.

For its latest financial year, the brand’s revenue fell from £16.1m to £6.3m.

Its accounts also show that its pre-tax loss widened from £155,000 to £1.2m over the 12 months.

In the UK, its sales went from £12.5m to £5.4m, from £1.8m to £591,000 in the rest of Europe and from £1.7m to £348,000 in the rest of the world.