Luxury fashion stampede sends Cettire shares racing
The online luxury retailer is now worth almost three times the value of Australia’s largest department store Myer while its CEO and founder is now worth almost $750m.
Cettire has bolstered its credentials as one of the hottest retail stocks on the market after posting a massive swing into profitability built on a growing army of loyal and cashed-up shoppers willing to buy luxury brands like Jimmy Choo, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci online.
Posting a full-year net profit of $16m for fiscal 2023, a turnaround from a loss of just over $19m in 2022, the online luxury fashion and apparel retailer can now boast an active customer base of 423,000 and is tapping into new promising customer bases with foreign language websites catering to shoppers in emerging markets such as Japan, China and Mexico.
Shares in Cettire pounced 20 per cent to $3.46 on Thursday on the release of its profits supercharged by the huge demand for luxury handbags, jeans, jackets and shoes, to give the pure play online retailer a market capitalisation of $1.3bn – which almost triple the size of 123-year-old department store Myer.
Cettire, which is an aggregator and seller of some of the most famous and expensive luxury fashion and apparel brands in the world, has seen its shares rocket 300 per cent in the last 12 months and up more than 550 per cent in 18 months.
For Cettire’s reclusive founder and chief executive Dean Mintz the share price rally has seen him quickly rise up the ranks of the nation’s wealthiest people. He owns just under 57 per cent of the publicly listed company, and on Thursday’s share price is worth almost $750m.
Cettire’s annual sales revenue almost doubled to $416.2m as shoppers picked up expensive clothing, fashion and accessories despite the tougher economic environment.
Active customers soared 63 per cent to over 423,000 over the 12 months to June 30 from a year earlier.
Cettire experienced a further acceleration in active customer growth since its April market update, achieving record quarterly net active customer additions in the fourth quarter, it said.
Repeat customers accounted for 58 per cent of gross revenues, with higher average spend per order and increased order frequency for this customer group.
Its margins increased by 156 per cent to $95.6m.
“We have considerable momentum in the supply chain as our compelling supplier proposition gains traction. Our focus is on continuing to drive penetration across the supply chain, which in turn enables us to better serve our customers,” said Mr Mintz.
That robust trading had spilt into the new financial year, as through July active customer growth rates pushed higher to 67 per cent and sales revenue lifted by 120 per cent against the same month in 2022.
Mr Mintz said the company was looking for new markets to grow into, especially the US.
“Early penetration in the US market, a huge opportunity for us,” he told investors during an earnings briefing.
He said a greater presence in new, emerging markets such as Japan and Mexico was showing very good results as it localised its website to suit the market.
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