eve Sleep PLC (LON:EVE) saw strong growth in revenue and gross profit margin in 2017 as the e-commerce focused mattress specialist moves to a quicker than expected retail roll-out and European expansion, with a deal now signed with BUT in France.
The AIM-listed firm, which floated in May 2017, reported a 132% leap in revenue to £27.7mln for the full-year 2017, up from £12.0mln a year earlier, with its gross profit margin jumping to 57.7% from 48.6% in 2016.
READ: eve Sleep wide awake and set to double revenues in UK
However, the company made an adjusted underlying loss (EBITDA loss) of £15.1mln, an increase from a £11.3mln underlying loss in 2016.
The group said its UK & Ireland revenue rose by 109% and International revenue increased by 174%, with the firm now operational in 15 countries, while non-mattress revenue contribution increased to 13% of total revenue, up from 7% in 2016.
The mattress retailer said the number of physical stores offering the company’s products had increased to 145 by the end of 2017 up from just one a year earlier, helped by the signing of deals with Next Plc's (LON:NXT) Homeware business in the UK and with Karstadt in Germany, which supplemented their partnership with UK department store Debenhams PLC (LON:DEB).
eve Sleep said trading for the current year has started strongly with sales for the first six weeks 94% above the same period last year, and added that it has signed a retail deal with BUT in France.
Jas Bagniewski, CEO of the company, said: “In what is just out third year of operation we have more than doubled sales and driven substantial improvement in gross margins, whilst raising £35mln of growth capital from our listing on AIM.”
He concluded: “We are still targeting to achieve UK profitability at the end of 2018 and Group profitability by the end of 2019."
In the early morning trade, the company’s shares - which floated at 101p last year - were up 0.8% to 128.5p.