Zalando's management blamed the protracted hot summer weather for a slowdown in its growth to a rate of 11.7 percent during the third quarter. It added that it will do its best to return to its longer-term target of annual sales growth of 20-25 percent during the fourth quarter, but most investors punished the company, sending down its stock market value by about 8 percent.
They had already downgraded the stock in September, after a previous profit warning. At €7.95 billion, Zalando's stock market capitalization remains relatively high for the retail sector in general, indicating that some investors still believe that it can reach its target of €10 billion in gross merchandise volume by 2020, but it has lost about one-quarter of its value since the beginning of this year.
The new downgrade came in spite of the fact that the bottom line performed slightly ahead of the investors' consensus. On an adjusted basis, Zalando suffered an operating loss (Ebit) of €39 million on sales of €1.2 billion for the quarter, compared with a small profit of €400,000 in the year-ago period.
Zalando is now predicting that its sales growth for the full year will be “around the low end” of its 20-25 percent forecast, leading to adjusted Ebit of between €150 million and €190 million.
The company noted that it currently has 25.1 million active customers, equal to 6 percent of the European population, up from 22.2 million customers one year ago.
