Wiggle’s sales rocket 19% to £168m

New financial results from Wiggle show a 19% rise in sales for the year ended 2 February 2014, making Wiggle the UK’s biggest online cycling and trisports retailer – according to Wiggle.

Sales have risen to £168m (2013: £141m) with the UK and Europe performing well, while sales in the rest of the world have been held back by the strengthening Pound.

The headline EBITDA is £13m, with underlying EBITDA growth of 19% in-line with sales growth after
adjusting for currency movements.

It’s not been a slow news year for Wiggle, appointing Stefan Barden as new CEO, increasing the
number of products offered on site by 5%; added three new sites including a blog; increased investment in service (including tracked and Next Day delivery options across Europe) and made significant investment in its ‘Never Beaten On Price’ promise.

In addition, the retailer says plans to consolidate and centralise warehouse operations, currently spread over four sites, into a singular 323,000 square feet facility in Wolverhampton are well underway, providing the capacity for ‘long term growth, greater efficiency and a locality from which to offer enhanced delivery options’, the retailer said. It also launched its own brand nutrition range, it began offering servicing in some UK business parks and has had a recent brush with controversy.

The firm added: "Trading momentum has continued into the current year, alongside reinforcement of the International teams and continued improvement to the customer service proposition, the addition of more payment, delivery and returns options overseas; and the extension of track and trace to more countries."

Stefan Barden, CEO of Wiggle, said: “The underlying performance of the business in the year has been strong, with fast growth in Europe and clear evidence of further market share gains in the UK. The product offering continued to evolve, with further enhancements made to consolidate the company’s leading customer service proposition.”

“The momentum has continued into the current financial year with major projects underway to not only drive profitable growth but also provide the capacity and infrastructure to support and manage it. We remain passionate about our business and confident in our ability to deliver the long term growth strategy.”

Founded in Portsmouth in 1999, Wiggle currently sells 52,000 SKUs from more than 430 third party brands as well as its own fast-growing dhb, Verenti and Lifeline brands. The company employs over 400 people in Portsmouth and London along with a satellite office in Sydney, Australia.