Women’s trend model Sosandar trims gross sales steering in margins push

Womenswear brand Sosandar has trimmed annual sales guidance as it refocuses on returning to profitability after building out its physical store estate. 

The Cheshire-based retailer now expects to earn £40million in revenue during the 2024 financial year, compared to £46.3million in the 12 months ending March 2024.

For the six months ending September, the group’s turnover declined by £6million to £16.2million as it scaled back discount activity outside major planned sale events.

Guidance: Cheshire-based womenswear brand Sosandar has cut its annual sales outlook

However, the firm’s prioritisation on boosting margins and reducing costs helped cut its pre-tax losses from £1.3million to around £700,000.

It also noted trading had ‘started well’ this month, with revenue ahead of last year and gross margins remaining strong ‘as we head towards our seasonal peak’. 

As a result, Sosandar, which counts television presenters Holly Willoughby, Susanna Reid, and Christine Lampard as fans, still anticipates full-year profits in the year to March 2025 will total £1million. 

Sosandar shares still fell 6.2 per cent to 10.1p by mid-Tuesday afternoon, taking their losses to around 32 per cent since the year started. 

Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-founders of Sosandar, said they were ‘committed to delivering in line with our growth strategy, focusing on margin enhancement to improve profitability, and we are already seeing the results of this in our performance’. 

‘This has continued into October and we remain excited for what lies ahead for Sosandar,’ they added. 

Sosandar recently opened its first-ever physical stores in the UK; they are located in Marlow, Chelmsford, and Gateshead’s Metrocentre. It plans to launch another one in St David’s centre, Cardiff. 

The AIM-listed company said it chose these sites because they are ‘affluent, thriving locations where Sosandar customers over-index’. 

Since opening these shops, the group noted that sales tracking was in line with forecasts, and website traffic had increased in the areas where these outlets are situated. 

In addition, Sosandar reported ‘strong demand’ from online customers in Ireland, where its clothes can now be bought in Arnotts, the country’s oldest and biggest department store.

Matthew McEachran, analyst at Singer Capital Markets, said: ‘Markets have been underwhelmed thus far by Sosandar’s transition to becoming a full-price multi-channel brand.

‘Given the commentary about improved recent trading, and the implication that the impact on sales from this transition to less promotions has nearly run its course, markets will now start to look forward with increased optimism.’