Trading Update T3 : des investissements importants portent une croissance exceptionnelle

Trading Update du troisième trimestre 2015 publié par Zalando et disponible dans le communiqué de presse ci-dessous (en anglais). 

Q3 TRADING UPDATE: INCREASED INVESTMENTS LEAD TO EXCEPTIONAL GROWTH IN Q3

• Further acceleration of growth to 41-43 per cent, Q3 revenues at EUR 707-717 million
• Adjusted EBIT of EUR -18 to -32 million (margin of -2.5 to -4.5 per cent), including targeted growth investments
• Accelerated profitable growth: revenue growth guidance for FY 2015 raised to 33-35 per cent; in return, adjusted EBIT margin lowered to 3-4 per cent for full year

BERLIN, LE 15 OCTOBRE 2015 // Zalando SE, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion, grew group revenues in the third quarter of 2015 to EUR 707-717 million or by 41-43 per cent (Q3 2014: 501 million), according to preliminary figures. Zalando expects to achieve an adjusted EBIT of EUR -18 to -32 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBIT margin of -2.5 to -4.5 per cent (Q3 2014: EUR 4 million or 0.8 per cent). In the first nine months of 2015 Zalando achieved revenues of EUR 2,084-2,094 million, growing by around 35 per cent (first nine months 2014: EUR 1,548 million). Adjusted EBIT for the first nine months is expected to come in at EUR 27-41 million, a margin of around 1.6 per cent at the mid-point of the range.

Rubin Ritter, Member of the Management Board, said: “The results are in line with our strategy to invest into long-term growth. In the third quarter we saw unique growth opportunities to significantly beat our growth targets and tapped into these with full conviction. We remain committed to our profitable growth path, but are willing to trade in some profitability to accelerate our growth and gain market share.”

Zalando continued to invest in its customer proposition in the third quarter, driving revenue growth significantly above expectations at the expense of margin. While gross margin was in line with the prior year, profitability was mainly impacted by higher fulfillment and marketing costs:

- Fulfillment cost: higher than usual fulfillment cost to secure a first-class customer experience even at fast-growing volumes, plus significant technology investments to further drive Zalando’s mobile and platform strategies. Fraud cases in the first-half of 2015 triggered lower than expected debt collection rates, representing a single-digit million amount

- Marketing cost: higher marketing cost ratio year-on-year, driven by increased investments into app downloads plus an earlier fall-winter season start campaign compared to last year.

Zalando raises full year growth guidance

Following these strong results in the first nine months of the year, Zalando is now expecting to substantially exceed its initial 2015 revenue growth corridor of 20-25 per cent and revised guidance of 28-31 percent and is increasing its guidance to 33-35 per cent. As a result of additional growth investments, guidance for 2015 adjusted EBIT margin is lowered to 3-4 per cent. 

All figures reported herein are preliminary and unreviewed. Full financial disclosure for the third quarter will be published on 12 November 2015.

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ABOUT ZALANDO

Zalando (https://corporate.zalando.com) is Europe’s leading online fashion platform for women, men and children. We offer our customers a one-stop, convenient shopping experience with an extensive selection of fashion articles including shoes, apparel and accessories, with free delivery and returns. Our assortment of over 1,500 international brands ranges from popular global brands, fast fashion and local brands, and is complemented by our private label products. Our localized offering addresses the distinct preferences of our customers in each of the 15 European markets we serve: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom. Our logistics network with three centrally located fulfillment centers in Germany allows us to efficiently serve our customers throughout Europe. We believe that our integration of fashion, operations and online technology give us the capability to deliver a compelling value proposition to both our customers and fashion brand partners. Zalando’s shops attract over 135 million visits per month. In the second quarter of 2015, around 57 percent of traffic came from mobile devices, resulting in close to 16.4 million active customers by the end of the quarter.

CONTACT ZALANDO
Charline Merieau / Corporate Communications
charline.merieau@zalando.fr
+49 (0)152 388 428 99