Laura Ashley today reported a 6.1% rise in ecommerce revenues in the first half of its financial year.
Online sales grew by £1.3m on the same time last year to reach £22.5m. They now account for 18% of sales at the multichannel fashion-to-homewares retailer.
In the 26 weeks to July, total group sales grew by 4.9% to £144m, while retail sales up by 3.8%, or 1.2% like-for-like. Pre-tax profits came in at £8.5m, £1.1m, or 14.9%, more than at the same time last year. Strong growth came overseas, with international sales growing by 13.6%.
Looking into the second half of the year, the company, which has 208 UK stores, reported like-for-like sales up by 8% on last year in the five weeks to August 30.
Laura Ashley chairman Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Peng said the company was “particularly pleased” with international sales and the “improved performance of our ecommerce business.”
He added: “We look forward to the rest of this year with confidence in the strength of our brand, in the quality of our products and in the loyalty of our many customers. We will continue to develop our international presence as well as focusing on our UK retail business with continued enhancement of our website, for both our domestic and international customers and improvements to our store portfolio.”
