In The Style results show extent of its problems pre-buyout

Almost a year ago, fashion e-tailer In The Style was facing potential administration but was sold to private equity firm Baaj Capital. Now it has filed its accounts for the year to last March, which give us a better idea of what was happening at the business during the 12 months before its buyout.

The tone of the results statement filed at Companies House is occasionally upbeat but also underlined the extent of the issues it was facing.

The business said that despite dealign with a challenging market environment, it achieved “significant advancements in successfully executing crucial operational and strategic initiatives”.

It delivered revenue of £46 million and although this was down from £57.3 million in the previous year, it was higher than the £44.7 million seen in the year before that.

The latest figure was a 19.8% year on year fall, and a 2.9% increase on a two-year basis.

Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of £4.3 million compared to a profit of £0.5 million in the previous 12 months. The net loss was £7.7 million, wider than the £1.5 million loss of the previous year.

Direct-to-consumer revenue declined by 11% overall year on year to £40 million, although it was up 10% on a two-year basis. The decline in the latest 12 months was made up of a 1% fall in the first half of the year but a 21% plunge in the second half as the industry as a whole was impacted by the cost-of-living crisis in the UK.

But the company said that it showed improvements in key customer metrics including a 0.1% increase in conversion and an 8% rise in average selling price per unit.

It added that “momentum continued in optimising its influencer-based business model” and notable achievements included launching more than 140 collaborations and more than 2,500 new products.

Its collaborations included ongoing partnerships with Stacey Solomon, Jack Jossa, Perrie Sian, and Carys Whittaker, plus new link-ups with Yasmin Devonport and Georgia Louise. Its Deborah James charity collection was also key and helped to generate total charitable donations of £1.9 million.

And it said that “significant progress” was made in growing its own-brand proposition, namely its FITS wardrobe staples that launched in August 2022 and accounted for £2.8 million of revenue for the year.

On the wholesale front, it faced a number of challenges due to issues such as excess stock in the broader market environment. It meant wholesale revenues were down a massive 52% to £6 million and were also down on a two-year basis. Wholesale accounted for 13% of total revenue compared to 22% in the previous year. It had ongoing retail partnerships including ASOS, Freemans, Zalando, Lipsy, About You and others.

Its international sales also remained modest at £3.2 million but the company said they’re a growth opportunity for the years ahead.

The company managed to improve its gross margin by 131 basis points to 45.2%. This came about as a result of cost management, agility in product sourcing, strategic retail pricing and promotional spend optimisation. And it said it made significant operational progress including opening its Heywood site in August 2022, which will boost operational efficiencies and has allowed it to bring returns processing in-house.