AO World swung to profit in its half-year results as it removed unprofitable sales and introduced charges on all deliveries.
The electricals retailer made a £13m pre-tax profit, compared to a £12m loss last year as it upgraded its profit guidance from £28m to between £28 to £33m for the year.
Adjusted EBITDA rose from £9m last year to £27m for the six months ended 30th September 2023.
Sales fell 12% to £482m as a result of it stripping out unprofitable sales, however it expects to return to revenue growth by the end of the year.
The retailer’s gross margin improved to 23.5% compared to 19.5% last year.
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Warehousing costs dropped to £25.5m for the period, while other admin costs plummeted by £9.4m as the business maintained tight control over ongoing spend.
AO World founder and CEO John Roberts said: “I am very pleased with the clear progress that we are making as a result of our strategic pivot to focusing on profit and cash.
“We have generated more profit in the first half of this year than we did in the whole of last year, and are also upgrading our profit expectations for the remainder of FY24”.
He added: “We look forward with cautious optimism, given the macro challenges, as we turn our attention back to delivering profitable revenue growth to drive our operational gearing.”
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