It was always accepted that online retailer Kogan was doing well in the pandemic – its numerous updates in 2020 told us so, but the interim results for 2020-21 tell us the boom has continued.
And while they give a lot more substance to the earlier statements with a sharp rise in revenue and earnings flowing through into a bigger interim dividend, the real test about the sustainability of these rapid growth levels is about to start.
Kogan reported $414 million in revenue, up 88% on the prior year, and adjusted net profit after tax of $36.5 million, a 250% higher than the previous first half.
Unadjusted, Kogan’s statutory profit was $23 million thanks to a range of one-off costs.
Kogan’s interim dividend more than doubled to 16 cents a share.
The company reported over 3 million active customers for the first time in its history, which founder Ruslan Kogan said was a significant milestone.
A year ago Kogan said it had nearly 1.7 million active customers, revenue of $220 million and reported $9 million in profit. For 2019-20 sales topped $552 million and profit was $17.2 million and 1.6 million active customers.
But like other retailers, there’s been a noticeable slowdown since the start of 2021.
Kogan’s growth into the new year has slowed when compared to some months in 2020 however, with sales across January up 45%.
Gross profit increased 102% and Adjusted EBITDA grew more than 90% year on year.
But that was on a comparison with January, 2020 when Covid was not a factor. The big growth test will come from march through June.
