Zooplus benefits from online boom

Online demand continues to be strong in Europe. The leading European online retailer of pet products, Zooplus AG, is benefiting considerably from this trend: its sales for the first nine months of the financial year rose by 18 per cent to 1.3 bn euros. The retailer is experiencing growing demand for accessories as well as food, and this is having a positive impact on the gross profit margin.
At the same time, the company has increased its profitability. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which were estimated at 40 to 50 mio euros on the basis of provisional figures, reached the upper end of the projected scale at 47 mio. Zooplus credited business from loyal core customers as a significant driver for the strong sales trend. The sales-related resale rate attained a new record level of 97 per cent.
Other aspects highlighted by Zooplus were lower marketing costs compared with the previous year and the growth in the gross profit margin to 30.5 per cent. Another pleasing outcome was that the group result, which was -10.6 mio euros in the first nine months of last year, came to 15.2 mio euros in the same period of this year.