LONDON — A sharp focus on high-spending customers and luxury brand exclusives fueled double-digit growth at Mytheresa in the fourth quarter, ended June 30, and the full fiscal year.
The retailer, which is based in Munich and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said Thursday that the gross merchandise value of goods sold grew 18.2 percent to 196.6 million euros in the three months to June, while the adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.9 percent.
GMV for the full year was up 21.3 percent to 747.3 million euros, with the adjusted EBITDA margin hitting 9.6 percent.
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GMV growth was 66.3 percent compared with fiscal 2020, and 97.1 percent compared with 2019, and that top line momentum is set to continue.
In the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2023, the company is expecting to report a 16 to 22 percent uptick in GMV to between 865 million euros and 910 million euros.
Adjusted EBITDA for the current year is set to land between 9 percent and 9.5 percent.
The results didn’t impress investors, however, and the shares closed down 5.62 percent Thursday to $12.26 apiece.
The company believes it is “perfectly positioned to take advantage of the ongoing shift to online of luxury consumers, the continued consolidation in the digital luxury sector and the global market share expansion opportunities.”
Mytheresa has long believed in the gradual shift of luxury sales to online, despite the reopening of physical stores in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has said many times it believes the shift will be ongoing, and that luxury consumers will enthusiastically embrace both channels.
Michael Kliger, chief executive officer of Mytheresa, said the fourth quarter and year-end results “put us at the very top of performance of digital platforms. The results prove the unique positioning and business model of Mytheresa. We showed strong growth and profitability against a backdrop of economic and geopolitical challenges.”
As reported, the company has been ramping up its activity over the past year, adding a home and lifestyle category, and hosting splashy brand events in places where its customers like to holiday such as Miami, Amalfi, Capri and St. Tropez.
In an interview, Kliger said the Mytheresa customer has proven resilient, and has been buying holiday wear in a big way.
He noted that the third quarter had been impacted by disruption from the outbreak of war in Ukraine, but as the months rolled on, consumer sentiment improved. He said the 18 percent increase in fourth-quarter GMV allowed Mytheresa to finish its year on a high note, and in line with its anticipated growth trajectory.
“The resort buy has been huge. Every one of our customers went on vacation, and some were buying double and even triple wardrobes for their holidays, and we clearly benefited from that. A lot of our U.S. customers also went to Europe, and our personal shoppers kept in close with them.”
In the period Mytheresa also launched a lifestyle pillar, offering merchandise including luggage, home interiors, and pet accessories. As reported, the retailer was the exclusive launch partner of the Rimowa Originals new Quartz style.
Kliger said that with all the travel going on, collaborating with Rimowa “could not have come at a better moment.”
GMV growth accelerated in the fourth quarter, and Mytheresa said it saw above average GMV growth in the U.S., where it has been working to strengthen its position, and build market share.
He also stood by the company’s guidance of a 16 to 22 percent increase in GMV in the current year.
“We fully recognize that energy prices and inflation are an issue, but they are mitigated by the income bracket of customers that we serve. We are also guiding for 9 percent to 9.5 percent adjusted EBITDA, so we continue to believe in profitability.”
Kliger said the strategy is simple. “It’s our customer focus, and our focus on strong collaborations with high-end brands to create exclusive merchandise that fits the mood and the times,” he said, adding that the company’s foundations were also robust.
“We are not negating that the world is pretty tricky and fragile right now. And we don’t know what is going to happen. But we serve a very good customer base, and we have a business model that can adapt quickly. We were able to deliver profitability even in the third quarter, which was hit by negative sentiment due to the war. And now with this negative sentiment having diminished, we feel that we are in a great spot,” he said.
Kliger also addressed Compagnie Financière Richemont’s proposed sale of Yoox Net-a-porter Group to Farfetch, and Mohamed Alabbar, which was announced last month.
He said: “We see ourselves as one of the few winners in the clearly consolidating luxury e-commerce space.”
Mytheresa has every intention of preserving its prime position.
“We are working very hard to be the best partner to our brands, which involves many things, including respecting the brand equity that these companies have built up over the years,” he said, adding that a continued focus on customers, on the high-end of the market, on curation “and not going too broad,” was the key to success.
“Then, there is the execution. This is retail, after all,” said Kliger, adding that he wants Mytheresa to be the top, curated multibrand online store in the world. “You need to earn that and we’re working hard at it,” he said.
Flavio Cereda at Jefferies said the results were in line with the bank’s projections, and that Mytheresa “continues to deliver superior metrics and an important stability in profitability.”
Looking ahead, the bank said Mytheresa’s core customers “are likely to be less impacted by spending slowdown concerns, but the landscape is set to experience some sequential deceleration in our view.”
Going forward, he said that Mytheresa was well-placed to face up to the competition, and that the bank was “expecting more disruption” at Matchesfashion, which welcomed a new CEO over the summer — its fourth in five years — and at YNAP.
It believes that Mytheresa will continue to grow its market share further and build its U.S. customer base as it continues to broaden its merchandise offering.