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Online electrical retailer AO World swung to a profit in the first half of the year as a pandemic-fueled surge in online sales boosted revenue.
For the six months ended 30 September 2020, pre-tax profit rose to £18.3 million from a loss of £5.9 million in the prior-year period, as revenue jumped 53.2% to £717.0m.
Product revenue, comprising sales generated from ao.com, marketplaces and third-party websites increased significantly to £505.3m, with sales generated from ao.com increasing by 69%, the company said.
'This represents a 62.4% increase in product revenue as we experienced heightened levels of demand following the migration to online in the wake of the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions,' it added.
Looking ahead, the company said it expected its German operations in one or more individual months, on an adjusted EBITDA basis would be profitable in the second half of the year.
'We continue to expect that the German business will be profitable overall in FY22,' AO World said.