Weird Fish, the British lifestyle clothing and accessories brand, today announces its results for the year ending 31st December 2023 and provides an outlook on current trading for the new financial year.
EBITDA increased 80% to £2.6 million and gross profit rose 14% to £21.3 million as the business accelerated investment across both online and in store and reduced overall discounting. This helped drive a nine percentage point increase in gross margin to 56%. Revenue declined 4% to £38 million as the business focused on improving profitability and greater sell through at full price.
Trading in the new financial year is in line with management’s expectations with further improvements in profitability and the Company plans greater expansion in the UK in the coming year.
Commenting on the results, Weird Fish CEO David Butler, said: “My focus since joining at the end of last year has been to create a more profitable business and accelerate opportunities available to the brand and identify new areas of growth potential. The business is now on a positive growth trajectory and we’re confident of further expansion this year and next as we enhance our product ranges and drive margin and customer engagement through our improved multi-channel presence.”
The Company, which opened seven new resort and destination stores in the UK in 2023, is planning to open a further five standalone stores by the end of this current financial year and another 7 stores in 2025, doubling the store estate since Butler joined the business at the end of 2023.
Weird Fish, which sells menswear, womenswear, footwear and accessories, has spent the past year enhancing its product range and creating three clearly defined collections – Outdoor, Heritage and the new WF collection. Better coordinated marketing campaigns across all channels has led to reduced discounting and an increase in the value of average basket size.
The Company, which has partnerships with RSPB and Caravan Club, is planning further brand ambassador partnerships to drive customer engagement and has signed agreements with Next Label Plus, Mountain Warehouse and Debenhams to sell its products through their online channels.
“Weird Fish is a well-established brand with a loyal and broad customer following who enjoy shopping both online and in store. We’re enhancing the ranges we sell to appeal to both existing and new customers and ensure we can provide them with clothes for every occasion, “ Butler said.
Weird Fish now has 29 stores across the UK, the majority of its stores are found in market towns or coastal locations.
“We have a complementary store portfolio of prime sites, commuter locations and outlets and are not exposed to major city centres and expensive flagship sites,” Butler said. “A key objective for 2025 will be to continue to drive sales and profitability by strengthening our digital capabilities, partnerships and sponsorships, whilst also looking to grow our store estate.”
