Sosandar PLC on Wednesday saw its shares fall, both on a swing to loss in the first half, and after reaffirming plans to continue with its omnichannel strategy and launch its own stores.
Sosandar is a Cheshire, England-based online women’s fashion brand.
Shares in the firm were down 28% at 12.85 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
For the six months ended September 30, Sosandar expects a pretax loss of £1.3 million, swung from £100,000 a year prior. Net revenue is expected to be £22.3 million, up from £21.0 million the previous year.
For the last three years, Sosandar has built a stronger online presence via third-party partnerships with well-known brands like Marks & Spencer Group PLC and Next PLC. Most recently, the company launched as a flagship brand with J Sainsbury PLC, going online in February, and making its debut in-store at the beginning of October.
On Wednesday, Sosandar said that ‘clear evidence’ of a return to the high street, coupled with the ‘growing strength’ of its brand, meant it was well placed to start thinking about a ‘bricks and mortar presence’.
The firm assured investors that expanding its omnichannel strategy through the opening of stores would ‘significantly expand’ its addressable market into more locations where customers want to shop.
The initiative is due to launch in spring of next year, and will be self-funded from existing cash resources.
Additionally, Sosandar said it has plans to significantly reduce price promotions in order to grow its margin by transitioning customer behaviour to the non-promotional led proposition it already operates across all its third-party channels.
Further, the firm has plans to expand abroad, and has signed agreements with The Iconic in Australia and The Bay in Canada to begin selling online in the fourth quarter of its current financial year, ending March 31.
Looking forwards, Sosandar expects revenue of £46.8 million in financial 2024, and of £54.6 million in financial 2025, with an upward trajectory in profitability. Both would be higher than revenue of £42.5 million reported for financial 2023.
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