Temple & Webster sales soar

Housebound consumers have helped to deliver rocketing sales for online retailer Temple & Webster.

The online furniture retailer has experienced sales growth of more than 100pc

Consumers stuck at home with money burning a hole in their pockets have continued to fill their lounge rooms, bedrooms and home offices with new furniture, and increasingly are feeling confident to order online, helping to deliver rocketing sales for online retailer Temple & Webster.

In a trading update on Thursday, Temple & Webster confirmed a sales push that took hold just after the start of the second half had accelerated through April and May, with sales growth of more than 100 per cent.

“The second half of fiscal 2020 has continued to trade strongly, with revenue growing at 90 per cent versus the previous corresponding period, driven by strong growth in April and May as customers turned to online to fill their furniture and homewares needs,’’ the company said.

All major categories experienced significant year-on-year growth, it said.

For the financial year to the end of May, year-to-date revenue rose 68 per cent to $151.7m and EBITDA was up 668 per cent to $7.1m, as active customers increased 68 per cent to 440,257. Cash at May 31 was sitting at $29.2m.

The strong trading in April and May continued, with June revenue tracking at more than 100 per cent against the same time last year.

“As a team, we remain proud that we have played a small part in being able to help Australians set up their homes during this crisis,’’ said Temple & Webster chief executive and co-founder Mark Coulter. “We can already see in our numbers that many of the customers who have never shopped with us before, and may be first-time online shoppers in our category, have already ­returned and made repeat ­purchases.

“These customers are experiencing the benefits of our channel, including range, convenience and value.”

Mr Coulter said the trend of buying furniture online would continue to grow.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Tim Piper has retained his outperform rating on Temple & Webster, describing the trading update as very strong.

“The initial surge in sales activity on the back of social distancing, work from home, and brick-and-mortar store closures in March/April has continued into May and has been greater than we anticipated,’’ Mr Piper said in a note to clients.

“We estimate Temple & Webster has accounted for at least around 30 per cent of the incremental growth in online sales in the category over the past 12 months.

Shares in Temple & Webster ended up 20c at $5.21.