White goods retailer AO World PLC (LON:AO.) bucked a generally upbeat retail season so far with a warning that the outcome for the current three months was hard to call.
Third quarter to December numbers showed revenues up by 12.3% year-on-year driven by an 8.9% rise in UK sales and 28.4% in Europe, but broker Shore Capital reckoned this was a ‘fairly modest’ performance with a steep underlying slowdown.
“Annualising strong comparatives of 25% from the prior year, domestic sales slowed to 8.9% in the UK, below our expectations of 16%,” the broker said.
“While ao.com revenue rose 10.3% year-on-year, this was below expectations of 19%.”
AO added it still expects to hit guidance for the full year, but a qualification over the current quarter spooked investors.
“We remain cautious about the final quarter given the uncertain UK economic outlook, currency impacts on supplier pricing and the possible effect on consumer demand,” said the electrical products supplier.
Shares fell 8% to 169.8p.