The Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price is up 5% after the e-commerce business revealed its FY24 first quarter update.
Kogan reported quarterly sales growth and profitability, which has pleased investors.
FY24 first quarter highlights
The following numbers are from the three months to 30 September 2023, compared against the three months to 30 September 2022:
- Gross sales fell 6.5% to $189.2 million
- Gross profit increased 19.5% to $37.4 million
- Kogan FIRST subscribers rose 14% to 440,000
- Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved $16.5 million to $6.9 million
- Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased $16.6 million to $2.8 million
- Inventory reduced 45.3% to $72.2 million
While the year-over-year sales decreased, Kogan said that excluding the seasonality boost of Black Friday and Christmas trading, this was the first quarter-over-quarter increase since the first quarter of FY22. The ASX retail share believes the planned period of "consolidation" within the company has concluded.
Kogan's gross profit margin improved 9.8 percentage points year over year, thanks to the 'sell-through' of excess inventory and a growing proportion of platform-based sales.
Platform-based sales' contribution for Kogan.com grew to 65% of gross sales and 75% of gross profit. Kogan said that the recently launched advertising platform is "growing rapidly."
The company finished September 2023 with $56.8 million of cash and no external debt. It had $23.8 million of net cash at September 2022. During the last year, it has repaid its bank debt, made the third tranche payment for Mighty Ape and spent $19.7 million on the share buyback.
A growing cash balance and profit generation are helpful signs for the Kogan share price.
Kogan CEO comments
The CEO and founder, Ruslan Kogan, said:
This most recent quarter has been full of excitement for Kogan.com. In addition to returning the Business to a position of continuous profitability growth and financial strength, we've been busy delivering new ways to delight our customers. This quarter we launched Mighty Mobile, under the Mighty Ape brand. Through Mighty Mobile, we have introduced the first ever unlimited-data mobile plans in New Zealand.
As we now approach the busiest time of the year with Black Friday, Christmas and Boxing Day, our team recognises that many of our millions of Aussie and Kiwi customers are continuing to face cost of living pressures. We are confident that the incredible deals we have lined up over the coming months will help in these tough economic times.
Kogan share price snapshot
Since the start of 2023, the Kogan share price has risen by 34%. It has been a volatile period for the company, as we can see on the chart below.
