Koovs impresses as India laps up Asos-style on-line fashion
Maiden interim results from Indian online fashion retailer Koovs impressed investors as website sales doubled in the first six months of trading as a public company, with losses widening as expected.
Group revenues at Koovs, which is chaired former Asos chairman Lord Waheed Alli, rose 28% to £0.81m and losses almost doubled to £3.6m, though sales net of returns at the Koovs.com website doubled to £0.9m.
Weekly traffic to the site, which is focused on the young e-commerce market in India and looks remarkably similar in design to Asos.com, increased by 129%, or a compound weekly growth rate of over 3%.
Alli said: "We have a clear and consistent objective to build Koovs into the number one fashion destination for India in the next five years and we are pleased with our progress to date.
Alli, who brought in former Asos director Robert Bready as creative and retail director with a design and buying team based in London, added that "It's been a busy and strong first half but we are still at the beginning of the journey."
Bangalore-based Koovs was founded in 2010 as a daily deals website, but switched course to 'lifestyle e-tailing' in 2012 when a large stake was taken by Anant Nahata, scion of the family that runs India's HFCL telecoms group.
House broker Peel Hunt said: "It is still very early days for Koovs, with spring/summer 2015 being management's fifth major season. Nonetheless, Koovs' core KPIs continue to meet or exceed our initial forecasts and the business has already firmly established itself with the Indian fashion magazine, bloggers and influencers."