UK’s AO expects better Black Friday and raises profit outlook

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) -British online consumer electricals retailer AO World is expecting sales from this year’s Black Friday promotional period to exceed last year’s, its finance chief said on Tuesday as the group raised its annual profit outlook.

Mark Higgins said Black Friday deals in the sector were now being offered through most of the month rather than just the day itself on Nov. 29.

“It is singularly the most important part of the year for us. I’m expecting a better Black Friday (period) this year than last year,” he told Reuters.

The chief financial officer said AO works in partnership with its suppliers on very long lead times to be able to offer deals like 200 pounds ($251) reductions on LG washing machines and 150 pounds off Dyson cordless vacuum cleaners.

Though official data published last week showed UK retail sales fell by much more than expected in October, Higgins said he was “cautiously optimistic” the electrical goods sector “will have an OK year in 2025”.

He was speaking after AO, which also sells fridge freezers, cookers, TVs, laptops and mobile phones, reported a 30% rise in first-half profit that reflected a return to double-digit revenue growth in its main business-to-consumer operation.

The group upgraded its guidance for 2024/25 adjusted profit before tax to between 39 million pounds and 44 million pounds ($48.9-$55.2 million) versus previous guidance of up to 41 million pounds and the 34.3 million pounds made in 2023/24.

First-half to Sept. 30 profit on the same basis was 17 million pounds on total revenue up 6% to 512 million pounds.

AO said tax raising measures in the new Labour government’s budget last month would likely mean an additional 8 million pounds of annual costs. Its shares were down 1.6%, paring year-on-year gains to 29.2%.

Last week, dozens of UK retailers, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, warned the budget would make both higher prices and job losses a certainty.

($1 = 0.7964 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey. Editing by Sarah Young and Mark Potter)