European online fashion retailer Zalando today unveiled a 25% rise in Q4 revenues that took it through the one billion euros barrier and announced plans to open a new fulfilment centre in Sweden to expand its continental logistics network.
The Germany-based company said in a trading update that its revenues increased by about 25-26% to €1,086-1,094 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to preliminary figures. It expects to achieve an adjusted EBIT of €81-104 million for the quarter, corresponding to an adjusted EBIT margin of 7.5-9.5%, compared to €71.8 million (or 8.3%) for the final quarter of 2015.
In the financial year 2016 as a whole, Zalando achieved group revenues of €3,633-3,642 million, an increase of between 22.9-23.1% on the previous year. Profitability improved substantially, with adjusted EBIT approximately doubling to €202-225 million and corresponding to a margin of 5.6-6.2%, compared to €107.5 million and a 3.6% margin in 2015.
“We have completed a successful 2016. For the first time we broke the billion-euro revenue barrier in a single quarter, a clear result of our customer focus,” said Rubin Ritter, co-CEO. “We will continue to emphasise growth and further invest behind an ever-improving customer experience across all our markets.”
Zalando also said it intends to open a satellite warehouse in Sweden in the course of 2017, similar to its satellite warehouses in France and Italy. The facility will be run by a service provider and aims to further improve Zalando's customer proposition in its important Nordic markets in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Zalando currently serves 15 European markets (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom) through a logistics network with four centrally located large fulfillment centers in Germany and a warehouse in northern Italy for local customer needs.
The company will announce full results for 2016 and guidance for 2017 on March 1, 2017.
