{"id":196163,"date":"2025-11-25T09:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/?p=196163"},"modified":"2025-11-25T09:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:30:11","slug":"ao-financial-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/ao-financial-results\/","title":{"rendered":"AO World unveils profit upgrade after sales rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AO World revealed another profit upgrade in its latest interim results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<a href=\"https:\/\/ao.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> electricals retailer<\/a> saw pre-tax profit rise 10% to \u00a318m for the six months ended 30 September 2025, despite inflationary headwinds of \u00a34m from National Minimum Wage and National Insurance cost hikes. Operating profit jumped 7% to \u00a318m over the period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Total sales were also up 14% to \u00a3586m, from \u00a3512m the same time last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/ao\/\">brand<\/a> noted that B2C retail revenues rose 12%, which it said were underpinned by market share gains across all of its key categories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also highlighted it had \u00a3200m of total liquidity at the period end, with free cashflow soaring 306% to \u00a357m over the period. <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"rght-related-articles-middle rght-latest-articles mb-4 mt-3\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h5>Related Story<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"rght-middle-related-article-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"rght-middle-related-article-box\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-middle-related-article-img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/05\/kingfisher-profit-outlook-soft-market\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BQ_-home-DIY_shopfront_ST-2-4-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kingfisher\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BQ_-home-DIY_shopfront_ST-2-4-1.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BQ_-home-DIY_shopfront_ST-2-4-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BQ_-home-DIY_shopfront_ST-2-4-1-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BQ_-home-DIY_shopfront_ST-2-4-1-630x420.jpg 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-middle-related-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/05\/kingfisher-profit-outlook-soft-market\/\" class=\"rght-articles-content-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Kingfisher keeps profit outlook despite soft market hitting B&#038;Q sales<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-articles-author-date\"><i class=\"far fa-calendar-alt\"><\/i><span>26\/05\/2026 x 8:10 AM<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AO said that it had made \u201csignificant progress\u201d in integrating, streamlining and simplifying musicMagpie, which had seen a reduction in losses made by the business year over year from \u00a36m at acquisition to a forecast \u00a32m for FY26 and an exit run-rate of breakeven.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AO founder and CEO John Roberts said: \u201cThese numbers speak for themselves, and it\u2019s been another positive six months of operational and financial progress.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur strategy is working and we\u2019re as confident as ever about AO\u2019s upwards trajectory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company noted that it had upgraded its pre-tax profit guidance to be around the top of its previous expectation of between \u00a345m and \u00a350m, announced in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/09\/ao-world-sales-rise\/\">pre-close trading statement<\/a> on 15 September.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/newsletter-sign-up-retail-gazette?utm_source=Website&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=SignUp\">Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette\u2018s free daily email 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