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Intimates brand Pour Moi saw saw sales surging 200% during the pandemic, echoing the experiences of some other lingerie specialists that appeared to benefit from consumers seeking to add interest to their lockdown lives.
The company saw total sales rising 46% to £31 million in the year to last September, an increase that followed impressive leaps in previous years. It webstore sales rose 154% last year on a two-year basis and the first quarter of the current financial year (October to December 2021) saw 297% two-year growth.
The company’s primary focus is on its webstore, although it also has a physical store in Chester and plans to open more in the UK. Additionally, it sells through Next, Very, ASOS and Zalando, although its own DTC sales account for almost 60% of the business.
As well as the 17-year-old business making the most of the unprecedented opportunity lockdowns presented, it has managed to retain large numbers of the new customers it attracted during the pandemic period.
Founder Michael Thompson told the PA news agency that profits jumped 75% in the latest year to £2.7 million, easing his initial fears that the pandemic would be devastating for the business.
He said that “like a lot of people, for the first couple of months of the pandemic we were terrified,” repeating what many in the fashion sector have told us in the past year.
Its biggest problem was that 80% of its business when the pandemic started was swimwear. And with holidays cancelled, sales in that segment at all price levels dropped off a cliff.
The firm was clearly able to pivot to more lockdown-relevant categories with Thompson saying that “if you’re stuck at home, your entertainment has limited resources, it was either streaming something, playing Scrabble or buying lingerie.”
He said online sales of “sexy lingerie” spiked early in the lockdown and that “every customer need changed overnight”.
Importantly though, the need to be agile remains paramount as he also said that purchasing behaviour quickly moved towards more everyday lingerie.
That’s also been clear since Covid restrictions were eased last summer with Thompson saying shapewear sales online increased 420% and strapless bra sales rose140% as more people were able to socialise, attend events and go on holiday.
Scottish retailer Quiz said on Tuesday that it has implemented a number of sustainability initiatives across the business to reduce its energy consumption and environmental footprint, and will continue to focus and improve on this area.
The business has switched to 100% carbon-free renewable energy in its head office, distribution centre and 67 stores in the UK and Ireland.
In recent years, the company had already moved to energy-saving lighting across its distribution centre and HQ and it said that the new renewable energy switch will save more than 900 tonnes of carbon each year. This figure will also increase through the introduction of other “smaller-scale initiatives, including the switch to zero-carbon paper and carbon-neutral water dispensers across of the business”.
In addition to this it’s dramatically reducing the amount of waste produced across its supply chain and has launched 100% recycled and recyclable bags for all e-commerce orders and in-store purchases. That’s cut its annual virgin plastic use by 40 tonnes.
It has put in place more stringent recycling practices too and said this has diverted almost 60 tonnes of material from landfill each year.
Commercial chief Sheraz Ramzan said the announced measures “by no means signal the end of our efforts. We will be continuing to look at how we can improve and are excited to build on this good progress into 2022.”
UK cybersecurity firm Darktrace has acquired Cybersprint in a cash and equity deal valuing the Dutch attack surface management company at €47.5m (£39.6m).
Cybersprint is based in the Hague, Netherlands, and provides real-time cybersecurity insights for businesses and detects potential security risks.
Darktrace said it will integrate Cybersprint’s attack surface management tools with its own detection and response products.
The deal is expected to close on 1 March 2022 and will see Darktrace acquire Cybersprint for 75% in cash and the remaining 25% in equity.
The total transaction value is worth more than 12 times the annual recurring revenue of Cybersprint.
Cambridge-based Darktrace will also gain a second European R&D centre via the acquisition, which it said will be used to support its UK software engineers.
Cybersprint’s ethical hacking and real-time internet data insight will be used to expand Darktrace’s existing detect and respond products. The company said it will accelerate its entry into the proactive AI cybersecurity market.
“Bringing inside-out and outside-in visibility together is critical and having access to the robust, rich, real-time external dataset combined with Darktrace’s Self-Learning AI means that customers get a holistic view of prioritised cyber risks to harden the parts of their organisation that are most vulnerable,” said Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson.
Pieter Jansen, CEO of Cybersprint, said: “We believe attackers never sleep and operate without scope. When we began conversations with Darktrace, we felt an instant connection on vision, culture and technology.
“That’s why we are looking forward to joining Darktrace and working together to accelerate state-of-the-art innovations to make organisations more cyber secure.”
The acquisition comes just under a year after Darktrace became a public company, listing on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021 with an opening valuation of £1.7bn.
Its market cap has since increased to £2.47bn in a sign that investors are unfazed by Darktrace’s ties to disgraced tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was a founding investor of the cybersecurity firm and recently lost a multi-billion pound fraud case over the sale of software company Autonomy to HP in 2011.
Darktrace’s successful IPO and subsequent acquisition of Cybersprint follow a record year for UK cybersecurity investment, with companies receiving more than £1bn in capital in 2021.
Investment in UK cybersecurity companies surpassed a record £1bn in 2021, a 25% increase on the year prior.
Government figures show that UK cybersecurity investment last year was spread across 84 companies.
Among those were Bristol-based Immersive Labs, which raised £53.5m in a Series C round, and London’s Tessian, which secured more than £52m in an extended Series C.
The UK’s cybersecurity companies generated a combined £10.1bn in revenue – a 14% increase on the 2020 financial year.
That additional capital helped create an additional 6,000 jobs, bringing the total UK cybersecurity workforce to 52,700.
The DCMS Annual Cyber Sector Report, published Wednesday, found that the UK cybersecurity sector contributed around £5.3bn to the UK economy in 2021, up from £4bn in the previous year.
According to the report, there were 1,838 active cybersecurity companies in the UK in 2021, with more than half of those based outside of London and the South East.
“Cybersecurity firms are major contributors to the UK’s incredible tech success story,” said Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries. “Hundreds of British firms from Edinburgh to Bristol are developing and selling cutting-edge cyber tools around the world that make it safer for people to live and work online.”
It comes amid a record year for cybersecurity investment globally, with $21.8bn (£16bn) poured into companies.
“It’s so encouraging to see such impressive growth in the UK’s cybersecurity sector,” James Hadley, CEO at Immersive Labs, told UKTN. “As cyber risk grows and evolves, it’s more important than ever that individuals and organisations alike are prepared and confident to stand up to whatever threat comes next.”
He added that he’s “confident” that growing cybersecurity investment will help protect more businesses from cyberattacks.
This was echoed by Jake Moore, former head of digital forensics at Dorset Police and now global cybersecurity advisor at ESET: “The cybersecurity industry is booming and the increase in expenditure is a sign that decision-makers are acutely aware of the importance of investment.”
Last year, in a boost for UK tech listings, Cambridge-headquartered Darktrace completed its IPO on the London Stock Exchange at a £1.7bn valuation.
The 2021 cybersecurity investment figures come amid a bumper year for overall UK tech investment, which surpassed £26bn across all sectors.
Out of that, fintech companies attracted £8.5bn, the largest of any sector.
January saw another slowdown for online retail sales with the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index — which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 e-tailers — showing the worst growth figures ever recorded with a decline of 24.4%.
But coming up against a boom in January 2021 when the UK was in lockdown, that reversal is no surprise. And at least fashion performed well.
E-sales have understandably slowed since the pandemic when webstores were the only option for consumers buying non-essential goods.
2021 had ended with 2.7% total growth in the market, which was the lowest annual growth rate ever. Continuing this pattern, January 2022’s drop is a direct result of retailers competing against a staggering growth rate of 61.8% in locked-down January 2021.
Fast-forward 12 months and not only are retailers up against this steep growth rate, but restrictions have been lifted, enabling consumers to carry out as much in-person shopping as they want.
Online retailers that assumed the e-sales growth rate would continue at levels closer to those seen during lockdowns and post-lockdown periods seem to have come unstuck. News this week of Studio Retail preparing to call in administrators after over-ordering January stock on assumptions of stronger trading only underlined what happened across the wider industry last month.
But while January seems to have been a weak month at a headline level, average spend was actually up over £20 year-on-year, although part of this could have been due to inflation that was running close to 5%.
Breaking the index’s figures down further, the average basket value (ABV) rose to £115 in January after dropping to £106 in December. In the first half of 2021 the ABV saw huge increases, but it had been falling since August. January was the first month since then that it has started to go back up again.
At a category level, fashion saw the highest rate of growth in January, with clothing up 5.4% year-on-year, and womenswear (+25.2%), menswear (+16%) and footwear (+19.4%) all reporting positive performances.
The same was not true, however, for the rest of the categories IMRG tracks. Those with the poorest growth included skincare, which was down 48.2%, make-up (-45.7%), and electricals (-36.7%).
Andy Mulcahy, Strategy and Insight Director at IMRG, said: “The first quarter of 2021 had a severe lockdown in place which drove huge online growth, so the year-on-year comparisons for the early months in 2022 are going to be harshly negative as a consequence. This can make it seem like online sales are in freefall, whereas actually it is just a natural rationalisation of the 50%-60% increases we saw this time last year.”
Lucy Gibbs, Senior Manager, Retail lead for Analytics & AI at Capgemini, added: “January was mixed story for retail; our Online Index reported the largest YoY fall in sales ever, and the high street claimed the opposite. This is due to the now familiar Yin Yang effect on YoY revenues when comparing to last year’s lockdown store closures. As we emerge from the pandemic, the annual results will start to normalise and 2022 will hopefully bring a much more stable trading period, however the outlook still remains uncertain as we realise the fall out of economic and logistical challenges from the last two years.
“The drop in orders this month is greater than revenue as ABV has increased by 24%. This could be an early indicator of increased prices, reflecting the ongoing supply chain disruption and underlying cost challenges. The major purchase index has also fallen four points (GSK) in January, as economic pressures add to consumer concerns. Capturing share of wallet amongst increasing bills and also pent-up demand for travel, events and eating out will continue to prove to be the focus as we navigate 2022.”
Shares in British e-commerce giant The Hut Group surged on Friday on speculation it could be sold.
The group is reportedly being circled by private equity firms potentially looking to buy the business, according to a Betaville blog post.
Advent International and Leonard Green are two firms understood to be exploring a buyout.
Shares in the group were up 16 percent on Friday following the report. They were back down 6 percent as of 10:00 GMT Monday morning.
It comes after the group’s shares plunged over 82 percent over the past year amid concerns over its corporate governance.
In the year to December 31, THG reported record revenue of 2.2 billion pounds, up 37.9 percent compared to last year and up 95 percent compared to two years ago, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.
But the group also warned that its profits margins are expected to fall below analysts’ expectations.
It said EBITDA margin is expected to be in the range of 7.4 percent to 7.7 percent, compared to market expectations of around 7.9 percent.
Shares fell further following the trading update.
Handbag resale platform Luxury Promise will announce this week that it has raised £8 million ($11 million) in a Series B funding round, according to a Sky News report.
The funding round is reportedly led by venture capital firm Beringa, whose portfolio includes Papier, the direct-to-consumer personalised stationery brand and EDITED, the retail and data analysis platform. The firm already led a £3 million fundraising round for Luxury Promise last year.
The new funding will reportedly be invested in the platform's live shopping events, to expand them across other time-zones and languages.
Investment is also coming from former Jimmy Choo chief executive Pierre Denis and Francois Delage, the ex-CEO of De Beers. Including the latest investment round Luxury Promise has raised almost £15 million pounds.
Luxury Promise was founded in 2017 by Sabrina Sadiq as a platform to sell and swap designer handbags. Based in London, it also operates in Dubai and has since expanded into other categories including shoes, accessories and clothing. It also offers authentication and repair services.
After training as a lawyer Sadiq opened her own consultancy business training staff at resale firms to authenticate luxury bags. With these expertise she started Luxury Promise, which today uses artificial intelligence to authenticity check and host scheduled live shopping events.
Ermenegildo Zegna is ending the financial year on a high note. The Italian luxury menswear group, which has just recently gone public on the New York Stock Exchange, showed a 27% growth in 2021, with a turnover of €1.29 billion. According to its preliminary annual results released by the company on Tuesday, the brand is fast approaching its pre-pandemic level, registering a decline of only 2% compared to 2019. CEO Gildo Zegna also took this opportunity to announce that the fashion house will no longer use real fur.
He explained the decision in a press release: "Part of Zegna's philosophy since its founding in 1910 is the belief that creating products of the highest quality goes hand in hand with respect for the natural world around us. Based on these values, the Zegna Group has decided that the 2022 collections will be the last to use fur for Zegna and Thom Browne," which are the two Ermenegildo Zegna Group brands.
The Zegna fashion house accounts for nearly 66% of the total revenues of the Piedmont-born group, Thom Browne accounts for 20%, while the rest of the revenues come from the group's textile activities. Last year, Zegna saw its sales jump 33% to €847.3 million, while remaining below its 2019 level (-8%). These positive results are largely due to the company’s strong sales growth in its shoes and leisurewear departments. For several seasons now, creative director Alessandro Sartori has been working in depth on modernizing the brand's classic pieces in order to deliver a younger, more versatile and casual product range.
Thom Browne posted even better financial results, recording "an exceptional performance" with a jump of 64% compared to 2019 and 47% over last year, to €263.3 million. Its direct sales more than doubled (+127%) compared to 2019 (+63% over 2020) with a revenue increase much more pronounced than just its scope for growth, which saw the brand grow from 28 monobrand stores in 2019 to 52 in just two years’ time.
The group's textile revenues also saw a double-digit growth (+17%, but -6% vs. 2019) at €102.2 million.
Ermenegildo Zegna Group’s sales increased across all regions except Japan, where they fell by 10% due to the country’s drop in tourism and ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. Sales in North America jumped 46% to €191.2 million, due in large part to a strong financial performance in the United States, where revenues rose 53% year-over-year.
Positive results were also seen in Asia-Pacific (+26%), at €696.3 million, the group's main market with a 54% share. Sales soared in the Greater China Region (+34%), which alone accounts for almost half of the company's total revenues. This is due to the repatriation of Chinese domestic luxury goods spending and the strong presence of the Zegna brand in the country since the last 30 years.
In the EMEA region, which accounts for 29% of the group's total revenues, sales climbed by 20% to €380 million. This increase was driven by Italy’s financial rebound, indicating a clear recovery to its 2019 pre-pandemic level, and by the exceptional performance in the United Arab Emirates, particularly in retail.
The direct sales channel, which currently accounts for 66% of total revenue (up from 61% in 2019), garnered a 39% growth in 2021 (+6% vs. 2019), while the wholesale channel saw a 14% increase (-11% vs. 2019). While Zegna has initiated "a major rebranding" and refocused its sales on the direct channel since 2019, "its growth has been strong, a sign of a positive response to the brand’s market redefinition strategy," stated the company.
As little as five years ago, the thought of Africa becoming a place in which international tech giants would inject large amounts of capital, where unicorns and “soonicorns” could grow and flourish, and where talent would be not only in hot demand, but flocking to the action, was almost unimaginable.
In the current day, however, Africa is a veritable playground of tech innovation activity.
Take the story of fintech scaleup Stripe. Picking up $600m (£445m) of funding in early 2020, the US-based company swiftly made its biggest acquisition to date with Paystack, a Nigerian payment-processing startup that already has over 60,000 corporate clients.
Despite the deal representing the largest startup acquisition to ever come out of Nigeria, it is no anomaly. Nor is the US alone in its penchant for Africa.
Just a few months later, DiDi Global, China’s answer to Uber, spotted South Africa as a launchpad for its African ambitions. It later piloted its ride-hailing app in Cape Town, and officially kicked off operations in the city, with over 2,000 drivers and 20,000 local users downloading the app in its first two months.
From acquisitions we turn to local players, and it is important to note here the diversity of profiles seen in Africa’s home-grown unicorns, both in terms of location and in terms of sector.
Thinking of Africa, we often picture its unbanked masses (over 50% of the population) and are perhaps too quick to assume that fintech is one of the very few sectors that may see unrivalled success here. Fawry, Egypt’s first electronic payments company to be valued at over $1bn, is an obvious illustration.
While it is true that in 2020 fintech dominated the investment space, gaining 25% of the total capital raised in Africa, the 2020 Partech Africa Report also shows that there are six main verticals that attracted over $100m (£74m) in equity funding in 2020, and plenty more that secured smaller amounts of funding.
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New Look has published a Sustainability Strategy Update that includes a commitment to become climate positive by 2040, as well as reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from products by 50% by 2030.
A key pillar of the value fashion retailer’s ‘Kind to Our Core’ initiative, the update is part of its three-year business strategy “reflecting the values and actions that the retailer wants to embed across its business, in its efforts to deliver against ambitious ESG targets”.
Within the new update, New Look said it has committed to a “wide-reaching range of measures” centred around four core pillars: Responsible Business, Responsible & Circular Product, Inclusive Culture and Positive Local Impact.
CEO Nigel Oddy, said: “Environmental and social responsibility has been a part of our business for over 20 years. Now, as a leading womenswear retailer with a global footprint, acting sustainably has never been more important to us. We are proud of our achievements to date, but our strategy refresh commits to going further and outlines our ambitions for the future.”
New Look also said the strategy offers updates on progress made so far against previous commitments and outlines a comprehensive set of new targets to offer transparency to all stakeholders.