Vivobarefoot presents the results of the 2023/2024 financial year (end: June 29, 2024) in the Unfinished Business Report. Both economic indicators and sustainability progress are summarized. Sales across all channels increased by 19% from 73.4 million British pounds to 87.2 million British pounds. However, the company ended the financial year with a loss of £1.8m. The year before there was a profit of £1.1m. The EBITDA margin fell from 2% to -0.7%. Vivobarefoot explains this, among other things, with problems on the website in October and November 2023, which prevented some customers from ordering shoes. Additionally, supply chains were severely negatively impacted due to the Suez Canal disruptions in January 2024. In addition, there was a 20% increase in inflation-related costs in digital marketing, which made the D2C channel less profitable.
What is positive is that around 1.1 million shoes were sold, breaking the million mark for the first time. The D2C share has increased to 63%. This is primarily due to the fact that the German market has been served in-house since February 2023. The Sofina Group, which recently invested for the second time, was won as a new investor in the past financial year. Vivobarefoot wants to use the resources to develop strategically in order to operate more profitably and in a crisis-proof manner.
To measure the achievement of the sustainability goals, 372 indicators from various ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting frameworks were compiled in which progress was assessed. While the supply chain was already 100% transparent on the first level in the 2022/2023 financial year, 100% transparency could now also be announced on the second level. The third level is currently 8% transparent. Recycling service Revivo also grew, carrying out a total of 53,000 pairs of shoe repairs with a turnover of £4.4m, an increase of 31%.
