JoJo Maman Bébé sees strength online, but own stores decline

Jojo Maman Bébé — the maternity and baby/toddler products specialist — has filed its annual accounts and said the year to the end of January (FY25) saw turnover dipping very slightly.

Its total turnover was £62.2 million, down from £62.6 million in the previous year. But its gross profit increase to 59% from 58.4% and adjusted EBITDA was £1.2 million, up from a loss of £0.9 million a year earlier, although the latest figure was still lower than the EBITDA numbers in both 2023 and 2022. 

The company said the increase year on year in FY25 was largely driven by lower costs including a reduction in fixed store costs, as well as growing profitability of sales on Next online.

Other key figures included a loss before tax of £3.7 million this time versus an equivalent loss of £4.8 million in the previous year although that was heavily impacted by one-off expenses of £3.9 million. Profit before tax was affected by significant onerous lease provisions in relation to its store estate, which was the result of declining profitability in the store portfolio.

In fact, it was very much a picture of opposites with online advancing while its own stores declined.

It saw lower like-for-like sales in-store, offset by growth in online and B2B channels. In fact online sales represented 63% of the company total, which was up from 59% in the previous year. Sales via the Next website in particular saw strong growth.

The company said investment by its new owners provided opportunities for it to deliver an improved commercial proposition for the customer and benefit from the economies of scale of the Next UK-wide distribution and store footprint. 

Having laid most of the foundations for growth during the previous year, including launching on Next Total Platform and a move to the Next warehouse, starting new B2B partnerships in the UK in the US, and rebranding, the board is “confident the company is well placed to deliver on its strategic plans”.