Kogan braces for coronavirus impact

Ruslan Kogan says it’s too early to tell what the coronavirus will mean for the online retailer, but accepts earnings may be hurt.

Ruslan Kogan, founder and CEO of Kogan

The boss and founder of ASX-listed e-commerce outfit Kogan says the impact that coronavirus will have on his company is unclear, but he warned the company's future earnings may be affected given China's crucial role as a global technology manufacturing hub.

"There's been no current impact, but it's still very early stages," Kogan CEO Ruslan Kogan told The Australian.

"It's hard to tell this early on what any potential impact may be down the track. It's a situation where we do have some of our major factories back to work, but some aren't.

"It's still very early days. China is a key manufacturing country, it's a manufacturing hub for the globe."

The company added in its results on Tuesday that "should there be sustained closures or delays of orders from international suppliers and manufacturers of our products, this may impact 2HFY20 earnings".

Shares in Kogan were down 3.88 per cent, to $4.96 at 10.30am (AEDT).

In its results for the half-year ending December 31, 2019, Kogan posted revenue of $219.5 million, down 5.3 per cent year-on-year, which the company said was due to a successful launch of Kogan Marketplace, where only the seller fees are recognised as revenue.

Gross profit was up 10.6 per cent to $49.9 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 35.2 per cent to $18.2 million.

"This has been another record half for the business," Mr Kogan said. "We've got a business plan and strategy that we're executing, and we're very happy with how things are going.

"It's a competitive market out there. After launching Kogan Marketplace, we've now got more products than ever on our site and our customers are massive winners."

The CEO said he wasn't focused on his company's share price, which has fallen almost 30 per cent since the first half of the year, due in part to a decline in third-party product sales on the Kogan platform.

Kogan's e-commerce platform offers products under Kogan's own branding, as well as from companies like Apple, Ugg and Cookmaster.

"We've got a long-term business plan we're executing, that's what we're focused on," he said. "We've got our blinkers on for the external factors we don't control. And any shareholder that's been a long-term shareholder would be very happy.

"We've got a very exciting business opportunity with Kogan Marketplace and the new verticals we've launched, including Kogan Energy, the Kogan credit card, and Kogan Internet. Kogan Mobile is one of our more mature verticals, and from that you can see what's possible with our verticals."

Kogan Internet grew almost 355 per cent year-on-year, while Kogan Mobile grew 5.1 per cent.

Kogan posted a fully franked interim dividend of 7.5 cents per share.