Online retailer The Very Group has returned to profit and confirmed revenues have topped £2bn for the first time. 

The Merseyside-based company - which operates online retail brands Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com - reported pre-tax profit of £48m for the year ended June 30, while revenues grew 2.9 per cent to £2.06bn for FY20, up from £1.99bn in 2019.

The group’s underlying EBITDA fell 2.9 per cent to £264.4m for FY20.

In 2019, the group, which rebranded from Shop Direct earlier this year, reported a loss before tax of £185.5m.

Retail sales at Very.co.uk increased 10.5 per cent to £1.2bn, driving the brand’s revenue up 6.8 per cent to £1.6bn. At Littlewoods, sales declined by 8.8 per cent to £460.9m.

The Very Group chief executive Henry Birch said the group’s return to profit was thanks to “our people and our flexible and resilient business model”.

Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn

BusinessLive North West

Email newsletters

BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.

You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.

Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.

LinkedIn

For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - follow our BusinessLive North West LinkedIn page here.

“Despite the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, the business has proven its adaptability yet again. 

“We delivered for record levels of new customers, who used the Very app for items to entertain their families and improve their homes, and increasingly valued our flexible ways to spread the cost.”

He continued: “We prioritised the safety of our colleagues, whilst remaining focused on customer experience.

“We migrated to, tested and launched Skygate, our new automated fulfilment centre, which enables us to process customer orders within 30 minutes, whilst materially reducing costs and is all set to support our Q2 peak trading period.

“The economic landscape will remain unpredictable. However, we believe our flexible and resilient business model, which gives customers access to the brands they love via flexible ways to pay, will help us thrive as customers continue to rely on online shopping.”