(News Bulletin 247) – The online furniture sales specialist Vente-unique.com thwarts the prevailing gloom and announces dynamic commercial performance at the end of its fourth quarter. Vente-unique also raises its margin outlook for its 2022-2023 financial year (ending at the end of September).

The purchasing power crisis has hit distribution players specializing in clothing, cultural products and home furnishings. But in this complicated environment, certain players manage to stand out.

And this irreducible is called Vente-unique. The group created in 2006 and listed on Euronext Growth since 2018 has managed to post a sharp increase in quarterly sales. Between July and September – a period which corresponds to the fourth quarter for Vente-unique – the group achieved turnover up 20.4% to 43.34 million euros. This performance can be explained by the double-digit growth of the e-commerce segment (+17.0%), which itself benefited from marketplace commissions in France but especially internationally.

The group is pleased to have achieved “the best fourth quarter in its history”. The TP ICAP Midcap design office also welcomes this performance, which it considers “remarkable in the current context”. And over the whole year, the specialist in online furniture sales achieved turnover up 13.1% to 162.25 million euros.

For the financial intermediary, Vente-unique “is perfectly positioned in the current context”. In the note which preceded this publication, Florent Thy-thine, head of equity research at TP ICAP Midcap, praised the “attractive price positioning” of Vente-unique “which attracts consumers looking for products with the best quality/value ratio. price”.

“Ikea, a direct competitor of the French player, for its part posted double-digit growth in France for its 2022/2023 financial year (at the end of August) and even announced future price reductions,” recalls the specialist.

This publication is logically appreciated, the Vente-unique title increased by 7.5% to 10.75 euros, around 12:30 p.m.

Prospects raised

Better yet, the group offers investors good margin prospects. Vente-unique raised its adjusted Ebitda (gross operating surplus) margin target. It is now expected at more than 8.4%, which represents a strong increase compared to that achieved during the 2021-2022 financial year (5.8% of turnover for the company Vente-unique.com SA ). It should therefore be above its level before the health crisis.

Vente-unique is also planning for the future. The Cafom subsidiary anticipates a good start to the year 2023-2024, namely double-digit growth (greater than 10%) at the end of its first quarter, i.e. the period covering October to December 2023.

“The growing success of the marketplace and the continuation of its European deployment (openings scheduled in the Netherlands and Portugal in March 2024) should support the commercial dynamic over the 2023-2024 financial year,” says Vente-unique.

“In an environment where profit warnings follow one another, an irresistible pure player could defy the predictions,” predicted Florent Thy-thine for his part a few days before the publication of Vente-Unique. The figures published by Vente-unique this Thursday before the opening of testify to the insolent resilience of the group, unlike other players who are struggling to raise their heads in this complex environment.

A series of profit warnings

At the beginning of October, Maisons du Monde had in fact issued a major warning on its results, its customers not having returned to its stores despite several price actions.

For its part, Fnac Darty certainly managed to keep its business afloat this summer, but says it is cautious for the end of the year. In a climate of “degraded household confidence”, the group lowered its operating profit target for the year 2023, citing a “rebound in consumption (weaker) than initially anticipated”.

The SMCP textile group has also been caught up in the purchasing power crisis, whereas previously its “accessible luxury” positioning made it immune to economic upheavals. The owner of the Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac brands had to lower some of his financial targets last September, also citing “a slowdown in growth in Europe in a lasting inflationary environment, as in France where the entire market is recording sluggish consumption since the beginning of August.