MyTheresa GMV rises but backdrop is tough, launches link-up with Bucherer

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 10, 2023

Luxury e-tailer Mytheresa on Wednesday reported close to 18% general merchandise volume (GMV) growth for Q1 and “continued Adjusted EBITDA profitability”.

It had other good news too as the VI{P customers it really wants to reach grew by 28.1% and those customers each generated GMV that was 6.7% higher.

But the good came with some bad. Its gross profit margin declined due to a “significant increase in promotional intensity by competitors” and adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income sank.

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Looking at the results in more detail, GMV rose 17.8% to €219.8 million and active customers rose 11%. Net sales were up 17.3% to €198.9 million.

The strongest GMV growth was, again, in the US, up 27.4% vs Q3 FY22, and it saw increased total GMV share in the US of 17.7%.

Gross profit rose 9.6% to €90.7 million but the gross profit margin fell to 45.6% from 48.8%. 

The company saw “continued profitability” with adjusted EBITDA of €3.2 million, representing an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 1.6%. But that was down from €10.8 million and 6.4% a year ago.

Adjusted net income also fell to €1.4 million from €6.2 million.

Clearly there were some challenges during the first three months of the calendar year and the comment about rivals increasing their promotions suggested what the problem was. It's an intensely competitive market out there, even at the luxury end, and high-net-worth shoppers are as fond of a bargain as anyone else is, which means they'll take advantage of promotions at other luxury retailers.

Yet CEO Michael Kliger, seemed happy. He said: “We are very satisfied with the global growth in our business producing industry-leading 18% top-line expansion. Our margin has been impacted by strong promotional intensity of many competitors… but we deliver profitable growth. We remain very much focused on our strategy of best customer experience and high full-price share yielding top customer GMV growth in Q3.”

This company last month “successfully completed the transition to a completely new tech platform powering all our user interfaces and e-commerce processes”.

For the full year that ends in June, it expects GMV in the range of €845 million-€860 million, representing 13%-15% growth, and net sales of €750 million-€765 million, or 9%-11% growth. Gross profit should rise 7%-9% to reach €380 million-€386 million, and adjusted EBITDA of €34 million-€43 million should come with an adjusted EBITDA margin between 4.5% and 5.5%, better than the 1.6% during Q3.

The company has also just launched a link with Bucherer, the world’s largest luxury watches and jewellery retailer. 

The collaboration will expand the offering of fine watches and jewellery on the Mytheresa platform. As a first step, Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) Watches by Bucherer launched on Mytheresa on 10 May.

Initially available in Europe, including Switzerland and the UK, the target is to expand the CPO watches offering later into other regions and to launch an assortment of New Fine Watches in 2024. 

The offer currently includes over 300 pre-owned timepieces from round about 25 brands, including Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Omega. 

Experts from Bucherer will authenticate each watch and ensure full functionality. A team of watchmakers certified by the watch brands will service the timepieces, providing customers an international two-year warranty and full-service package directly from Bucherer.