Women’s fashion brand Sosandar cuts its sales forecasts to increase margins

Women’s clothing brand Sosandar has cut its annual sales forecast as it focuses on returning to profitability after building its brick-and-mortar store.

The Cheshire-based retailer now expects to earn £40m in revenue in fiscal 2024, compared to £46.3m in the 12 months ending March 2024.

For the six months to the end of September, the group’s turnover fell by £6m to £16.2m as it reduced discount activity outside of major planned sales events.

However, the company’s priority on increasing margins and cutting costs helped reduce its pre-tax losses from £1.3m to around £700,000.

It also noted that operations had “started well” this month, with revenue up from last year and gross margins remaining strong “as we approach our seasonal peak.”

As a result, Sosandar, who counts TV presenters Holly Willoughby, Susanna Reid and Christine Lampard among her fans, is still forecasting annual profits to March 2025 to be £1m.

sosandar actions It still fell 6.2 per cent to 10.1 pence by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, taking its losses to around 32 per cent since the start of the year.

Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-founders of Sosandar, said they were “committed to delivering on our growth strategy, focusing on improving margins to improve profitability, and we are already seeing the results of this in our performance.”

“This has continued into October and we remain excited about what lies ahead for Sosandar,” they added.

Sosandar recently opened its first physical stores in the UK; They are located in Marlow, Chelmsford and Gateshead Metrocentre. He plans to launch another in the center of St David, Cardiff.

The AIM-listed company said it chose these sites because they are “affluent, prosperous locations where Sosandar customers outperform the index”.

Since the opening of these stores, the group noted that sales tracking was in line with forecasts and that website traffic had increased in the areas where these outlets are located.

Additionally, Sosandar reported “strong demand” from online customers in Ireland, where you can now buy your clothes at Arnotts, the country’s largest and oldest department store.

Matthew McEachran, analyst at Singer Capital Markets, said: “Markets have so far been disappointed by Sosandar’s transition to becoming a full-price omnichannel brand.

“Given the commentary on the recent improvement in trading and the implication that the impact on sales of this transition to fewer promotions has almost come to an end, markets will now begin to look forward with greater optimism.”