AO World PLC (LSE:AO.) swung into profit for the full year, despite a drop in revenue, and predicted a return to top line growth in the coming financial year.
The strong performance over the year "illustrates the excellent progress against the group's plan to pivot the business to focus on profit and cash generation", the company said in a statement.
The online electrical retailer reported pre-tax profit of £7.6mln in the year ended 31 March 2023 compared to a loss of £10.5mln the year prior.
Revenue dipped 17% to £1.14bn from £1.37bn while EPS improved to 1.13p from a loss of 0.75p per share.
Adjusted EBITDA doubled to £45mln from £23mln.
The firm said it was confident of hitting its 5% EBITDA ambition in the short term and returning to top line growth in the medium term.
Chief executive John Roberts said: “The significant improvement in our profit performance speaks for itself and has been achieved by focusing on our core strengths and simplifying our operations.”
AO said revenue was in line with its plan, “driven by actions taken to remove non-core channels and loss-making sales, also reflecting weak consumer sentiment attributed to cost of living pressures”.