Online bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing has reported sales up by almost a third and profits up by more than half for the 2021 financial year.
Revenue for the year to September 30 was £268.8 million – up by 29% over 2020’s £208.7m. Adjusted pre-tax profit was also up, leaping by more than half (53%) from £26.2m last year to £40.1m.
Pre-tax profits, once the exceptional costs of £9.4m and share-based payments of £7.7m related to its stock market flotation in June were taken into account, reduced to £19.7m.
The online retailer said that total orders were up by 17% to 906,000 against 776,000 in 2020, with average order values up by 10% to £297 from £269 last year. Its active customer base rose by 13% to 638,000 from 565,000 in 2020.
The company also reported that it had increased its marketing spend as a percentage of revenue to 26% from 25% last year, with increased investment in focused digital performance-based marketing to complement off-line creative content. This, it said, had increased its brand awareness from 58% in 2020 to 64% in 2021.
Victorian Plumbing also increased its product offering to more than 24,000 products from over 125 brands, with the strategic addition of two well-known third-party brands, Duravit and Villeroy and Boch.
Referring to the supply chain problems that have plagued the KBB industry, Victorian Plumbing said that its “adaptability and investment in in-stock inventory” meant it secured more stock when supply chain disruptions were at their greatest. The popularity of its own-brand products, it said, helped it to absorb most of the current supply chain pressures.
Commenting on the results, founder and chief executive Mark Radcliffe said: “This has been a milestone year for Victorian Plumbing as we accelerated our growth, supported by the continued dedication and agility of colleagues around the business, and successfully completed our listing on the London Stock Exchange.
“Our distinctive brand and extensive choice of quality bathroom products have been key drivers in attracting consumers to our platform, whilst the strength of our supply chain and our investment in inventory means that the majority of our products have remained immediately available.
“Although the short-term outlook is difficult to predict as the world normalises from the events of the past two years, it is inevitable that consumer buying behaviour will continue to move online.”
He concluded: “The board remains confident in the medium to long-term growth prospects for Victorian Plumbing.”
Looking ahead, Victorian Plumbing said that during the first two months of FY 2022 consumers continued to spend more on leisure and less on big-ticket material homeware purchases, with demand and revenue broadly the same as last year and 41% ahead of 2020.