Freemans and Bonprix owner Otto sees turnaround but Retailer segment sales fall
"Despite the continuing extremely tense geopolitical environment and the still gloomy consumer sentiment, also and above all in Germany, we have not only managed to keep our revenues stable with a clear focus, but also to bring the Otto Group clearly into the black at all earnings levels," said new CEO Petra Scharner-Wolff of the results.
"We have taken on the challenges of the market and mastered them very well. We are satisfied with the past financial year, which has further increased our financial stability and allows us to look to the future with optimism," she continued.
The various segments according to which the Otto Group manages its Group companies - Platforms, Brand Concepts, Retailers, Services, and Financial Services - have developed differently in terms of revenue and earnings.
The largest segment in terms of revenue, Platforms, which primarily includes the Otto online store and About You, performed strongly.
IFRS revenue here increased by 4.7 percent compared to the 2023/24 financial year, from €6.2 billion to over €6.5 billion.
With regard to Otto, it should be noted that IFRS revenue only includes commissions from the marketplace business in addition to traditional revenue from own business and the services offered. According to IFRS, these revenues from the e-commerce platform increased by around 5 percent to €4.4 billion. GMV rose by around 9 percent in the 2024/25 financial year, from €6.5 billion to over €7 billion.
Overall, Otto is growing faster than the competition in Germany and is therefore gaining market share. The number of active customers climbed by 4 percent to around 12.2 million.
About You - still part of the Otto Group and therefore fully consolidated - has also confirmed its business forecast for the 2024/25 financial year. Revenue increased by 3.6 percent from just under €1.9 billion to €2 billion.
By contrast, the Brand Concepts segment, which mainly includes the Crate and Barrel, Bonprix and Witt Group, recorded a 3.3% decline in sales from around €5.3 billion to €5.1 billion. In addition to the subdued consumer sentiment and increasing competition, the weakening of business operations in the USA under the Venus brand had a significant negative impact on the sales performance of the Bonprix Group, headquartered in Hamburg.
The Retailer segment, which is less relevant in terms of sales (including the Freemans, Baur Group, Limango and Manufactum), recorded a 4% decline in sales on a comparable basis to €1.7 billion.
The Services segment, which includes the group's logistics service providers and the Otto International purchasing network, grew by 12 percent and generated revenues of €419 million compared to €374 million in the same period of the previous year. The segment benefited from the slight increase in demand in e-commerce.
According to the Hamburg-based retail and services group, the overriding aim of the new strategic agenda is to secure its own future viability in the medium and long term.
To this end, the company intends to focus its own activities even more intensively on the needs and requirements of customers and partners in the future.
At the same time, the Otto Group plans to decisively scale successful business models in its core portfolio such as Otto, Crate and Barrel and Eos in order to return to strong growth in the medium and long term. The international business in Europe and North America is also to be expanded in a targeted manner.
"We also want to make significant progress in the current financial year. Even if we assume that 2026 and 2027 will still primarily be years of consolidation, our overriding goal remains to further strengthen the Otto Group's resilience and solidity in order to remain equipped should the general conditions continue to be volatile. Especially in these times, it is good to know that we have a family of entrepreneurs behind us who think in terms of generations. We remain true to our values. We are staying on course," said Scharner-Wolff.
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