Online fashion retailer Boohoo suffered a "marked" fall in sales last month as the coronavirus crisis deepened, but revealed trading has since improved.
The group, whose brands include PrettyLittleThing and NastyGal, said it was seeing "improved" year-on-year growth of group sales during April.
The update comes as Boohoo reported a 54% jump in pre-tax profits to £92.2 million for the year to February 29 as sales raced 44% higher.
On an underlying basis, annual pre-tax profits lifted 42% to £108.3 million.
The company recently made a move into the grown-up fashion market when it bought the Karen Millen and Coast brands after they went into administration.
John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, said: “Boohoo has delivered a strong set of results for its full year – but it has to be noted that this doesn’t cover the period when Covid-19 really became a factor in the UK. The business is highly entrepreneurial, agile, and is seeing growth across its self-developed brands, such as Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing.
"Perhaps most importantly at this time, though, it is well financed with a strong net cash position. It is difficult to say what lies ahead – hence the company’s decision not to provide guidance for FY21 – but we’re beginning to see online retailers’ sales volumes decrease, forcing them to write-off more stock.
"Despite the mixed immediate trading environment, boohoo should be in a strong position to weather the storm given its low-cost structure, shorter lead times, and cash to invest when normality returns.”
