Earnings fall amid flat sales at Kogan

THE explosive growth in sales and profitability online marketplace Kogan.com booked during the initial stages of the pandemic have disappeared, with the retailer revealing annual sales growth of only 0.1 per cent and earnings down 69 per cent.

Consumers who once swarmed Kogan.com’s website for electronics and other consumer goods have pulled back their spending, or migrated to other online retailers, snatching away the huge growth tailwinds Kogan.com once enjoyed and that sent its shares rocketing.

Earnings for the Kogan.com business, which once booked profit leaps of more than 100 per cent, slumped more than 87 per cent in the 2022 financial year, according to a trading update on Thursday.

H o w e v e r the market, hoping the worst was beh i n d Kogan. com, sent its shares up 30 per cent to $4.13 after the trading update. The share price is still down 64 per cent in the past 12 months.

Kogan.com, which made a name for itself with its ranges of televisions, kitchen appliances and electronics that shoppers hoarded when Covid-19 appeared, did look to have managed to remain profitable last financial year – albeit just – and despite the strong slide in adjusted earnings.

Kogan.com said annual sales had hit $1.18bn, up 0.1 per cent from last year, with adjusted EBITDA of $19.1m, down 69 per cent.

It follows a recent update for the March quarter when Kogan.com revealed it had dipped into a $800,000 earnings loss for that period.

That update, in April, showed the Kogan.com business arm reported an adjusted $3.5m pre-tax loss for the March quarter that was partially countered by a $2.8m earnings gain for its Mighty Ape business in New Zealand.

“We’re not resting on our laurels,” Kogan.com co-founder Ruslan Kogan (pictured) said.