EU and US could reach trade deal this weekend - Reuters
Investing.com -- Zalando SE (ETR:ZALG) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, supported by growth in its customer base and a solid start to the spring and summer season.
The company also reaffirmed its outlook for 2025, even as global economic uncertainty weighs on retail sentiment.
Zalando shares slipped 1.7% in Frankfurt as of 09:15 GMT.
The German online fashion platform said revenue rose 7.9% year-on-year to 2.42 billion euros ($2.74 billion) in the three months ending March 31, beating the average analyst estimate of 2.367 billion euros. Gross merchandise volume (GMV), which tracks the total value of items sold on its platform, climbed 6.5% to 3.5 billion euros.
Zalando added nearly three million new customers in the quarter, bringing the total number of active users to 52.4 million, up from 49.5 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBIT rose to 46.7 million euros, compared with 28.3 million euros in the same period last year.
Revenue from Zalando’s business-to-business segment, which includes logistics and software services provided to other retailers, also saw strong growth, rising 11.6% to 240 million euros.
Despite the broader challenges in the retail sector, including U.S. tariffs and potential retaliatory measures, Zalando maintained its guidance for 2025. The company continues to expect revenue and GMV to grow between 4% and 9%, with adjusted EBIT forecast to come in between 530 million and 590 million euros.
“Consumers obviously are still cautious but they also keep spending, we’ve enjoyed growth really across all our markets in Q1 and that makes us confident we will be able to drive the acceleration we are aiming for this year,” co-CEO David Schroeder said on a call with reporters.
Schroeder noted that changing global trade dynamics could benefit Zalando’s B2B operations. “We see brands and retailers really having a larger focus on Europe as a way to also generate additional demand if it gets more difficult to do this in the U.S. ... and we are talking to quite a few brands at the moment on how we can best help them,” he said.