InnovaDerma PLC Trading Statement (8289N)

TIDMIDP

RNS Number : 8289N

InnovaDerma PLC

26 May 2020

LEI: 213800WRAP6W8VDL6B38

InnovaDerma PLC

("InnovaDerma" or the "Company")

Trading Update

InnovaDerma (LSE: IDP), a UK developer of beauty, personal care and life sciences products, today provides the following update on trading ahead of its year end on 30 June 2020.

COVID-19

Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of our employees. As previously announced, we implemented work from home procedures and have taken additional measures to enhance our communication with each other to maintain wellbeing and effectiveness. These steps have proven to be effective and our colleagues are working from home successfully and continuing to provide uninterrupted services to our customers, particularly via our direct-to-consumer channel (DTC). All of InnovaDerma's employees remain fully employed and, given a lean team, none of the workforce have been furloughed during this period.

Trading Update

As previously announced, while trading in the second half of the year began positively and was in line with expectations, the UK Government's lockdown measures to stop the spread of the pandemic have significantly reduced the sale of our brands through our bricks and mortar channels. However, our DTC channel, which accounted for c.60% of our revenue in FY2019, remains a key pillar of our distribution strategy. The investments we have made over the years in ecommerce and our customer lists has allowed us to accelerate the diversification of platforms, increase the number of conversations and attract many new customers. This strategy, our digital expertise and ability to swiftly leverage our multi-channel model has significantly boosted our online sales over the first four months of the second half, as consumers shifted their purchasing online.

April was a record month for Skinny Tan DTC sales in both the UK and the US. Skinny Tan online sales in the UK were up 63% over the same month last year. The Skinny Tan UK customer base increased by 21% in the four months since December to more than 710,000, with revenue generated from online up 10% over the same period last year. The US DTC market has performed very strongly, particularly benefitting from the relaunch of a number of leading Skinny Tan SKU's. The US customer base is up 50% from just under 60,000 at the end of December to more than 88,000 at the end of April, with sales up 324% from the same period last year. Furthermore, our sales through online beauty retailers which are separate to the Company's DTC channel has performed exceptionally well.

The launch of Nuthing, our new range of hair removal products has seen continued growth in revenue week on week despite the very constrained retail environment. The brand is building market share in the category with DTC volumes increasing steadily, despite the absence of the planned retail launch in Superdrug stores.

The relaunch of Roots is progressing well and has been presented to Boots who responded positively. A comprehensive package of products including new formats are ready to be delivered to the market at the appropriate time.

The strength of our business model has enabled us to perform resiliently in a difficult market and significantly offset the weak in-store retail environment. As a result, the Board expects the Group's revenue for FY2020 to be no less than the prior year (GBP12.9m.). As in the prior year, the second half is expected to be both profitable and cash generative.

The Group is well funded, continues to benefit from strong cash flows and has sufficient levels of cash with no debt.

The Board continues to monitor COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic carefully. The team is working hard and is focused on the peak selling season for Skinny Tan and the last few weeks of trading before the financial year end. The Company remains well-positioned, supported by a proven strategy and a strong online presence. The resilience of the business and ongoing strength of the Company's key brands means that Innovaderma is well positioned for future growth as the global economy slowly starts to reopen.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Further enquiries

 
 InnovaDerma 
  Joe Bayer                              [phone] 
  Kieran Callan c/o TB Cardew            [phone] 
 finnCap Ltd 
  Geoff Nash/Kate Bannatyne              [phone] 
  Alice Lane - Corporate Broking         www.finncap.com 
                                      --------------------------- 
 TB Cardew 
  Shan Shan Willenbrock/Tom Allison      + 44 (0)7775 848537 
  Olivia Rosser                          [e-mail] 
                                      --------------------------- 
 

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May 26, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)