Australian-born affordable jeweller Lovisa has recorded a $102 million boom in annual sales for FY24, up 17.1 per cent to $699 million.
Much of this surge was driven by its Europe and United States markets, each lifting 26.9 per cent and 38.5 per cent respectively.
Europe is now the company’s largest market by revenue size, which hit $230 million - $30 million more than Australia. Lovisa’s US market is closing in, surging up by nearly $50 million to $177.4 million in FY24.
The jeweller’s Australian market lifted by just 0.7 per cent for the financial year - or $2 million. Lovisa also reported a drop in revenue across its emerging Asia market by 0.9 per cent, while its Africa/Middle East market grew by seven per cent to $52 million.
Despite the sales boom, the low-price jeweller’s comparable store sales were down 2 per cent for the financial year, with this metric swinging to positive in the second half.
Lovisa also recorded a gross profit surge of 18.7 per cent to $565.8 million, with earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) up by $20 million to $128.2 million.
“The company has once again delivered strong sales, gross margin and profit growth at the same time as investing in the structures to support our steady global expansion,” Lovisa CEO Victor Herrero said.
“This positions us well to continue our growth in both existing and new markets. I want to again share my appreciation of the entire global Lovisa team for their hard work and dedication to achieve these results.”
Lovisa highlighted its continued global store rollout as a key driver for growth. The company opened 128 new stores in FY24, taking the store network to 900 stores globally across 46 markets.
This includes the opening of its first stores in Ireland and the key Asian markets of mainland China and Vietnam, as well as new franchise markets in Ecuador, Senegal, Guadeloupe and Gabon, with a total of seven new markets opened in the year.
In Australia, Lovisa opened 13 stores, relocated one and closed down 2, bringing its total store count for the country to 178.
This is below its US market at 207 stores, with Europe at around 270 stores.
“The Americas market was again a major driver of store network growth with 37 new stores opened in the period in the region including 10 new franchise stores in South America,” Lovisa shared in its trading update today.
“The strong base we have built in Europe allowed that region to deliver the largest share of new store growth for the year with 50 new stores opened.”
Looking ahead on sales, Lovisa reported that total revenue is up 12.7 per cent for the first eight weeks of FY25, with comparable store sales up two per cent.
Since the end of the financial year, Lovisa opened 10 new stores with two closures, with the total store count at 908 including its first franchise stores recently opened in Ivory Coast and Republic of Congo, adding another 2 new markets to the network.
The jeweller has also opened a new company-operated 5,000 square metre warehouse in Columbus, Ohio to service its growing Americas region in August 2024.
This new facility adds to its existing company-operated EU warehouse in Wroclaw, Poland, its AU/NZ warehouse in Melbourne, Australia, and its 3PL warehouse in Qingdao, China.