Australian lingerie retailer Honey Birdette has reported a 600 basis point lift in its gross margin to 58 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, despite a 13 per cent fall in sales.
Parent company PLBY Group confirmed the numbers, with group CEO Ben Kohn saying this comes as management prioritizes brand health.
“The decline in Honey Birdette revenue was solely related to cutting sale days and was offset by full price sales being up 8 per cent year-on-year, which now represent 80 per cent of Honey Birdette’s total sales, up from 65 per cent a year ago,” Kohn shared.
Primarily due to these results, Kohn said PLBY Group has reduced its overall net loss and achieved its first positive adjusted EBITDA quarter since 2023.
The group’s net loss was just US$9 million (~A$14 million), down from US$16.4 million.
Adjusted EBITDA hit US$2.4 million, up by nearly US$5 million compared to the first quarter of 2024.
“The first quarter of 2025 was still burdened with approximately US$1 million of costs, which we have now eliminated. On a proforma basis, adjusted EBITDA would have been US$3.4 million without those costs.”
Despite Honey Birdette’s sales slip, overall group sales at PLBY Group – much of which came through licensing – was US$28.9 million, up by around US$600,000 compared to the same quarter last year.
PLBY Group manages the Playboy brand through product licensing and distribution, as well as content publishing.
Kohn said the increase in revenue was due to a 175 per cent increase in licensing revenue, partially offset by the absence in digital subscriptions, TV and cable programming revenue that the company no longer operates, as well as a modest decline in Honey Birdette revenue.
Direct-to-consumer revenue, which predominantly includes Honey Birdette, was US$16.3 million, down 13 per cent.
Kohn also confirmed that Byborg is now operating Playboy’s subscription websites and television properties and is transitioning PLBY’s creator platform, after the group struck a deal with the online entertainment provider late last year.
Byborg manages sex chat webcam platform LiveJasmin.
“In Q1, we generated US$5 million in guaranteed royalties from this new strategic partnership, which will deliver at least US$20 million each year for the next 15 years,” Kohn said.
“We also incurred US$3.8 million in nonrecurring transition expenses and expect an additional US$1.2 million by the end of May. After that, Byborg will reimburse any remaining legacy digital business costs.
“In addition, we expect US$20 million in payments from Byborg by July 1, consisting of the minimum guarantee for the last two quarters of 2025 and a security deposit for the last six months of the deal term.”