BOOKTOPIA BOOKS A LOSS BUT REVENUES SURGE
BOOKTOPIA chief executive Tony Nash says the online book seller is placing its overseas book orders well in advance, and in large quantities, to avoid gaps in its shelves caused by disrupted global supply chains.
Mr Nash said since the latest round of lockdowns began across eastern states in July there had been another spike in online book orders, with fiction and graphic novels proving incredibly popular.
Unveiling the retailer’s latest annual results, which showed a net loss of $18.078m, Mr Nash said many of its books were sourced from within Australia but it was ordering big, and early, for those coming in on ships and airfreight.
Although Booktopia recorded a bottom-line loss. it was dragged under by the costs of its $300m float in
December. Underlying earnings (adjusted for the cost of the IPO) rose 125 per cent to $13.6m. It reported total revenue of $223.9m, a 35 per cent increase on the previous year and 10 per cent above the $204.5m forecast in the company’s November 2020 prospectus.