Online retail group Very has reported an uptick in Home sales during the third quarter, driven by bedroom furniture.
According to its latest trading update for the 39-week period ended 29 March 2025, total sales declined 3.8% to £1.60bn from £1.66bn against the same period in 2024.
Within total revenue, its flagship brand Very UK, which represents 88% of sales, saw a decrease in revenue of 2.5% to £1.40bn, while Littlewoods revenue declined 15.1% to £148.1m, which is in line with expectations as the managed decline strategy for this brand continues.
Within its categories, Very said Home – a division of “strategic importance”, saw sales rise 8.9% compared to the prior year. “This was largely due to an increase in sales of home accessories, textiles and bedroom furniture.”
The Group delivered a pre-exceptional EBITDA of £214.9m for Q3, improving 8.9% from £197.4m year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA margin consequently increased 1.8%pts to 13.4%.
Commenting on the performance, Very said: “As expected, given our continued focus on our retail fundamentals and prioritising higher margin product categories, we saw a decrease in total Group revenue of 3.8%, however at the Very UK level, we saw a strong result within our Home category with growth of 8.9%, and 24.6% growth in our Sports offering as we continue to prioritise these strategically important categories.
“Despite top line performance, we have delivered an improved operating performance in Q3, with our continued focus on cost control contributing to an 8.8% increase in pre-exceptional EBITDA to £214.9m. This represents a pre-exceptional EBITDA margin increase of 1.6%, to 13.4%, which is the highest Q3 pre-exceptional EBITDA margin the Group has ever achieved.
“The EBITDA performance paired with careful working capital management has in turn contributed to a smaller cash outflow in the year to date, improving by £143.9m on the prior year. Overall, net cash and cash equivalents increased year on year by £6.5m to £52.3m as a result of increased operating cash inflows.
“As we continue to focus on higher margin sales and cost discipline through the remainder of FY25, we expect to see a continued strengthening of the profitability of our business.”
