Sosandar returns to revenue growth in H1 but loss widens, stores still a drag on performance

Womenswear brand Sosandar said on Tuesday that it returned to revenue growth in H1 (the six months to the end of September), “underpinned by strong own-site performance and resilient margins”.

It saw growth in revenue of 15% year on year to reach 18.7 million, with own-site revenue up by 28% versus the prior year. 

And it reported that the gross margin was flat at 62.2%, although the company said this was a “strong” figure, “reflecting the strategic focus on margin enhancement”.

That said, it made a loss before tax of £1.1 million, a bigger loss than the £0.7 million in the previous year, “reflecting traditional second-half weighting of profitability alongside the impact of own stores and M&S cyber incident”.

Meanwhile its net cash increased a little and it said its current trading is in line with FY26 full-year expectations for both revenue and profit before tax. Current expectations are £43.6 million in revenue and profit before tax of £0.4 million.

Sosandar said its own-site performance was driven by a “meaningful uplift in site traffic, improved conversion rates, and increased order volumes from both new and existing customers”. 

And it remains one of the top-selling brands across all third-party partners, including Next, “delivering robust trading during the period” and entering the key AW season “with positive momentum”.

Also on the plus side, it launched its licensed homewares range with Next in September, “which has delivered a strong initial performance in line with our expectations”. 

But not so good is the fact that “stores continue to weigh on profitability until they mature”. 

In the last year, it has opened six standalone retail stores across the UK and they represent just 5% of its total net revenue. Since it opened, 60% of customers shopping in-store are brand new to Sosandar, and it’s also seeing “a notable uplift in both traffic and online revenue in those areas where we have opened stores”.

Its first two locations, Chelmsford and Marlow have recently passed their 12-month anniversary “and are delivering encouraging results. Both stores are expected to achieve breakeven in year two”.

Two of the locations, both in shopping centres (Cardiff and Gateshead) “have been challenging”, however. The company said that one of the key learnings is that “smaller market towns have consumers who shop more regularly in those locations meaning it has been quicker to build repeat customer visits resulting in higher revenue”.

As for current trading, “as anticipated, trading during the autumn period has been strong, in line with expectations” and sales through M&S have resumed following its cyber incident, “with collaborative efforts under way to scale stock intake”. 

It has seen a further step up in the gross margin as well, to 67.2% in October and November to date, compared to 64.6% a year ago, “reflecting improved intake margin on new season product”

Co-CEOs Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said they were “really pleased with how the business has performed over the past six months” and that AW25 has delivered “another robust trading performance, with customers continuing to respond positively to our unique collections across both occasion and everyday dressing”.