Sosandar’s full-year trading update on Tuesday was upbeat, as usual, although as the company gets bigger, the giant double (and even triple) digit leaps of the past are securely in the rearview mirror.

The womenswear company said it saw a strong H2 plus overall FY24 revenue growth of 9%, continued margin growth and it has a strong cash position.

One of the fastest-growing fashion brands in the UK, revenue reached £46.3 million with the gross margin rising to 57.6% from 56.1%, reflecting its planned reduction in certain price promotion activity ahead of a selective store rollout in Britain.

The company also reported a substantial positive swing in pre-tax profit from the first half when it had made a £1.3 million loss. The second half generated profit of £1.1 million, which means that FY24 will be broadly in line with market expectations.

And it added that post year-end, April trading has been strong with continued improvement in profitability driven in particular by gross margin.

Sosandar managed to outperform many of its peers and the wider industry and its focus on margin improvement began to deliver.

And due to its “careful working capital management, with ongoing focus on stock purchasing, the cash position as at 31 March exceeded market expectations at £8.3 million”. This further strengthens its ability to execute its next stage of growth, including the aforementioned rollout of select physical retail stores during FY25.

It said its own webstore “remains the bedrock of the Sosandar brand and this channel was strengthened with the launch of our app in July, which has performed very well”.

But trading with the company’s well-established third-party partners has continued to be strong too, “with the success of our product resulting in Sosandar being one of the top selling brands across all third-party partners including Next and M&S”.

This has “helped to drive further growth in brand awareness and led to increased partner opportunities, such as the collaboration launched with Freemans in September 2023”.

Its first launches internationally, with The Iconic in Australia and The Bay in Canada, have fared in line with its expectations, and following the partnership with Global-e, “further validated our expectation that Sosandar’s product range will resonate with fashion-conscious women across the globe”.

And while the company was founded as an online player, its gradual move into physical stores is gathering steam.

It said: “With over 60% of the +£60 billion p.a. clothing market in the UK being transacted in physical stores, we remain confident that the opportunity available to multi-channel retailers far exceeds that of an online pureplay business. As previously disclosed, providing an in-store offering will help achieve both these core strategic objectives and is therefore an essential next step in Sosandar’s growth journey.”

And “substantial progress towards opening the company’s first stores has been made, with several shops identified in top-tier locations at various stages of progression, including some now reaching the latter stages”.

Its primary focus is to “ensure that Sosandar stores are situated in the right position in affluent, thriving locations where Sosandar customers over-index. The exact timing of first openings will, accordingly, be determined by our disciplined approach to ensuring ‘right price, right location’ and that all other aspects are in place to deliver a fantastic in-store customer experience”.