TIDMAO.
RNS Number : 0887M
AO World plc
19 January 2021
19 January 2021
AO WORLD PLC
TRADING UPDATE
AO World plc (the "Company"), a leading European online
electrical retailer, today issues the following trading update for
its third quarter, the three months ended 31 December 2020.
The significant increase in demand for AO's products and
services since the start of the pandemic has continued throughout
our third quarter as we experienced our strongest ever peak trading
period over the Black Friday period and in the run up to Christmas.
In the three months to 31 December 2020 we recorded year on year UK
revenue growth of 67.2% to GBP457.3m and of 77.4% to EUR73.6m in
Germany(1) .
We are continuing to invest in our infrastructure to deliver
these higher levels of revenue including additional staff in
warehouses, vehicles and drivers. We have incurred significantly
higher costs as we negotiate some of the operational challenges of
working in a Covid compliant environment, particularly in the
reverse supply chain. We have also seen a slightly increased rate
of cancellation of individual consumers' long term contracts in
mobile and warranties, driven by Covid impacts on customers
behavior.
We are delighted with how our investments in infrastructure and
corresponding planning for the structural market changes have
played out, although there remain some Covid created imbalances in
supply and demand in some categories.
We continue to put the welfare and safety of our people,
customers, suppliers and partners first, as we have done throughout
the pandemic. Our services will continue to be adapted as necessary
during the current lockdown.
We look forward to the last quarter and the next financial year
with confidence as the structural shift to online is cemented in
consumers' minds by the outstanding service millions of new
customers have received in 2020. This is compounded by the ongoing
tailwinds we expect to be driven by working from home and
associated usage and appreciation of electrical products so
essential to our day to day lives.
AO Founder and Chief Executive, John Roberts, said: "I believe
we've seen ten years of change in ten months, and experienced our
strongest ever peak trading period.
"We backed ourselves by investing early in warehouses, vehicles,
stock and people. This not only set us up to satisfy customer
demand for electricals for the current crisis but also for the
longer term, as the structural shift to online becomes a permanent
feature of the market in the UK and Germany. One of our biggest
achievements this period is to have our German business profitable
throughout Q3.
"Our confidence in those investments has been rewarded by these
exceptional levels of sales. We've seen how the short-term costs
translate into a fantastic opportunity to drive lifetime value for
millions more customers. We're delighted to have earned their trust
after their first purchase and their first experience of the AO
Way.
"Now that customers have experienced a better, digital-first way
to shop for electricals, I believe the majority will never look
back. We intend to cement that change by raising the bar on our
service and proposition in ways that only AO can deliver.
"We'll continue to make the right decisions for our customers,
partners, people and planet too. I'm hugely proud of how AOers have
responded to challenges as well as opportunities, providing amazing
service to our customers during a record period. I'd like to thank
the whole team for making it possible, including the 1,500 new
recruits who joined us during 2020."
(1) excludes sales derived from AO.nl, our Netherlands website
which was closed during the prior financial year
For further information, please contact:
AO World plc Tel: +44(0) 1204 672400
John Roberts ir@ao.com
Mark Higgins
Tulchan Communications
Will Smith
James Macey White
William Booth
About AO
AO World plc, headquartered in Bolton and listed on the London
Stock Exchange, is an online electrical retailer, with a mission to
be the global destination for electricals. Our strategy is to
create value by focussing on being brilliant for our customers to
make AO the destination for everything they need, in the simplest
and easiest way, when buying electricals.
We sell major and small domestic appliances and consumer
electronics in the UK and Germany and deliver them via our in-house
logistics business and carefully selected third parties. We also
provide ancillary services such as the installation of new and
collection of old products and offer product protection plans and
customer finance.
In the UK, AO operates in four main categories (Major Domestic
Appliances "MDA", Small Domestic Appliances "SDA", Audio Visual
"AV" and Consumer Electronics "CE"). Following the acquisition of
Mobile Phones Direct Limited in December 2018, AO has significantly
broadened its mobile phone offering.
AO launched in Germany in October 2014 with MDA and now sells
Floorcare, AV and SDA categories.
AO also has a majority equity stake in AO Recycling, a WEEE
processing facility, allowing AO to ensure its customers' waste is
dealt with responsibly in the UK.
Cautionary statement
This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements
(including beliefs or opinions) with respect to the operations,
performance and financial condition of the Group. These statements
are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or
beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. By their
nature, future events and circumstances can cause results and
developments to differ materially from those anticipated. Except as
is required by the Listing Rules, Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules and applicable laws, no undertaking is given to
update the forward-looking statements contained in this document,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Nothing in this document should be construed as a profit forecast
or an invitation to deal in the securities of the Company. This
announcement has been prepared for the Group as a whole and
therefore gives greater emphasis to those matters which are
significant to AO World plc and its subsidiary undertakings when
viewed as a whole .
ENDS
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTEAXFPFDFFEFA
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Grafico Azioni Ao World (LSE:AO.)
Storico
Da Feb 2024 a Mar 2024
Grafico Azioni Ao World (LSE:AO.)
Storico
Da Mar 2023 a Mar 2024