EQS-News: ABOUT YOU Holding SE: ABOUT YOU Reports Revenue and Customer Growth in the Third Quarter with Strong Momentum in the DACH Region – Guidance Reiterated

PRESS RELEASE

ABOUT YOU REPORTS REVENUE AND CUSTOMER GROWTH IN THE THIRD QUARTER
WITH STRONG MOMENTUM IN THE DACH REGION – GUIDANCE REITERATED

• Group revenue grew by 1.3% year-on-year to EUR 558.9 million in Q3 2024/2025, adjusted EBITDA¹ came in at EUR 20.1 million

• Double-digit growth of 18.0% year-on-year in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, stable development in the Rest of Europe, and slight growth in the Tech, Media, and Enabling segment

• Free cash flow rose to EUR 123.9 million, resulting in solid cash balance of EUR 255.9 million

• Number of LTM² active customers returned to growth at 12.8 million, while LTM average order value increased further to EUR 59.3

• Exclusive celebrity brands and collections, including the NETFLIX COLLECTION, launched to activate new, returning, as well as existing customers

• International customer acquisitions, ~30% year-on-year growth in annual recurring revenue, and continued high profitability levels at SCAYLE

• SCAYLE Payments went live for first marketplace partners in Austria and Germany, with further European roll-outs already in progress, expanding the marketplace features in the online fashion store

• Guidance for FY 2024/2025 reiterated: the Management Board continues to expect Group revenue growth of +1% to +7% year-on-year and adjusted EBITDA between EUR 15 million and EUR 35 million

Hamburg | January 9, 2025 – In Q3 2024/2025, the ABOUT YOU Group delivered both revenue and customer growth across all business segments. ABOUT YOU, one of the leading online fashion stores for Gen Y and Z, recorded 12.8 million active customers over the last twelve months, marking a return to growth. The business-to-business segment maintained strong momentum. SCAYLE, the subsidiary for enterprise shop systems, experienced growth fueled by new international partnerships. The Group's newest entity, SCAYLE Payments, successfully launched in first markets after receiving its payment services license from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Ultimately, the Management Board reiterates the full-year guidance for FY 2024/2025 narrowed in October.

Group revenue grew by 1.3% year-on-year to EUR 558.9 million in Q3 2024/2025, as cool weather conditions in September and October provided a strong start to the fall/winter season. In contrast to the prior year, it is important to note that Group revenue – unlike the revenue reported for individual segments – does not yet include orders from Black Weekend, as revenue is only recognized upon delivery to customers and will be reported in Q4 2024/2025.

“Our customer base has returned to an all-time high, a clear testament to our sustainable growth trajectory in Q3 2024/2025,” states Tarek Müller, the ABOUT YOU Group's Co-Founder and Co-CEO. “What is particularly encouraging is that an above-average share of orders during Black Weeks in November came from new customers, rewarding our disciplined capital allocation and targeted investments. At the same time, we have built a more profitable and cash-generative business model over the past quarters with positive EBITDA and free cash flow. We are in an excellent position for the next phases of our Group's development.”

STRONG MARGINS AND IMPROVED LIQUIDITY
Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 20.1 million in Q3 2024/2025, equivalent to a margin of 3.6%. During the same period, free cash flow rose to EUR 123.9 million, surpassing the previous year's quarter by EUR 30.8 million. Liquidity amounted to EUR 255.9 million on November 30, 2024.

To sustainably strengthen profitability and liquidity, the ABOUT YOU Group consistently focused on improving margins and efficiency. The gross margin stood at 42.0%, significantly above the previous year's level, benefiting from lower inventory levels and reduced promotional intensity. Furthermore, the e-commerce group reduced its administrative expenses by 8.7%, lowering the cost-to-revenue ratio to just 3.6%. Marketing expenses decreased slightly by 0.3%, corresponding to 12.2% of Group revenue. The focus was on performance marketing, selected offline media campaigns, as well as targeted initiatives for customer acquisition, reactivation, and retention.

This also included the Black Weeks campaigns in the online fashion store, which achieved high order volumes, along with a substantial increase in profitability. An above-average share of orders from new customers and more than 730 million impressions on social media underlined the reach and impact during the campaign period.

RETURN TO GROWING CUSTOMER AND ORDER NUMBERS
Q3 2024/2025 marked a positive turning point for customer and order numbers. Over the last twelve months until November 30, 2024, the number of active customers grew by 3.0% to 12.8 million, with the number of orders increasing slightly to 38.5 million. The 5.8% uptick in the average order value to EUR 59.3 reflects the continued strong demand from style-led Gen Y and Z for a shopping experience that seamlessly blends shopping and entertainment.

Consistently, ABOUT YOU pursues its innovative fashiontainment approach. A highlight was the launch of the NETFLIX COLLECTION, an exclusive fashion brand co-created by ABOUT YOU and the iconic entertainment service Netflix. Since October, the brand has been offering strictly limited pieces inspired by popular Netflix series and movies, designed for both series fans and fashion lovers. The second collection inspired by Squid Game was released in December, timed with the launch of the second season of one of the world’s most successful Netflix series. Additional new celebrity brand launches included KAVAZI by ABOUT YOU in collaboration with German actress Chryssanthi Kavazi. Moreover, successful existing brands by renowned artists, athletes, and creators, such as content creator Cita Maass, designer Guido Maria Kretschmer, soccer player Kevin Trapp and supermodel Lorena Rae, released new collections for their brands “by ABOUT YOU”.

DOUBLE-DIGIT REVENUE GROWTH IN THE DACH REGION
Top-line growth of ABOUT YOU’s online fashion store, the Commerce business, was driven by strong performance in the DACH segment in Q3 2024/2025. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, revenue increased by 18.0% year-on-year to EUR 295.0 million, supported by a further improving market environment, amidst cool weather conditions. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA came in at EUR 14.5 million and a margin of 4.9%.

Profitability also improved in the other European markets (Rest of Europe, RoE segment), where revenue and adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 282.2 million and EUR -4.9 million, respectively. Year-on-year, the segment's EBITDA margin improved significantly to -1.8%.

RAPID PROGRESS IN THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS UNIT
The ABOUT YOU Group's business-to-business unit returned to growth in Q3 2024/2025. Segment revenue in Tech, Media, and Enabling increased by 6.9% year-on-year to EUR 55.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 18.8 million with a high margin of 34.1%.

Fueled by strategic investments in the Tech sub-segment, SCAYLE – the technical backbone of more than 200 online stores of brands and retailers – delivered dynamic growth. The acquisition and go-lives of new enterprise customers, such as Manchester United and Harrods in the United Kingdom, led to a ~30% increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR) compared to the previous year. With an ~85% gross margin on ARR and an adjusted EBITDA margin of ~50%, SCAYLE remains highly profitable.

SCAYLE Payments, the ABOUT YOU Group's payment services entity, made strategic and operational progress. After receiving its payment services license granted by BaFin in October, the first marketplace partners launched in Austria in December, followed by Germany in January, and are now being rolled out across other European countries. Thereby, SCAYLE Payments is expanding the marketplace functions in the online fashion store and strengthening its control over payment transactions.

GUIDANCE REITERATED – ZALANDO'S VOLUNTARY PUBLIC TENDER OFFER
The Management Board confirms its guidance for FY 2024/2025, as narrowed in the Half-Year Report on October 10, 2024. It continues to expect Group revenue growth in the range of +1% to +7% year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA between EUR 15 million and EUR 35 million.

On December 11, 2024, Zalando announced its intention to submit a voluntary public tender offer to acquire up to 100% of the ABOUT YOU Group's share capital at an offer price of EUR 6.50 per share. Major ABOUT YOU shareholders – the Otto Group, the Otto family, HEARTLAND, and the ABOUT YOU Management – have irrevocably committed to sell all of their shares, representing about 73% of the ABOUT YOU Group's share capital, to Zalando. The takeover process is progressing as planned, following the procedures described in December.

All documents related to reporting, including the Quarterly Statement, are available on the Investor Relations website. ABOUT YOU Holding SE will publish its results for FY 2024/2025 on May 8, 2025.

Q3 2024/2025 ended on November 30, 2024.

Please refer to ABOUT YOU's Quarterly Statement Q3 2024/2025 for definitions.

THE ABOUT YOU GROUP
The ABOUT YOU Group is an international e-commerce group, organized into different strategic business units: The online fashion store ABOUT YOU represents the Group's business-to-consumer business. With over 12 million active customers, ABOUT YOU is one of the largest online retailers for fashion and lifestyle in Europe and the leading provider of a personalized shopping experience on smartphones. In the award-winning ABOUT YOU app and on aboutyou.com, customers find inspiration and a range of more than 700,000 items from around 4,000 brands. The Group's business-to-business operations are largely handled by SCAYLE GmbH. SCAYLE offers a modern, cloud-based enterprise shop system that enables brands and retailers to scale their digital businesses quickly and flexibly, and adapt to growing customer needs. Over 200 online stores choose SCAYLE's Commerce technology under a license model, including leading brands and retailers such as Harrods, Manchester United, Deichmann, Fielmann, and FC Bayern. The newest subsidiary of the ABOUT YOU Group, SCAYLE Payments GmbH, complements the Group's portfolio of payment services. The payment service provider received the payment services license from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in October 2024 and is currently being rolled out across various European markets. SCAYLE Payments enables the seamless integration of modern payment solutions and helps to scale customers' digital business models.

For further information, please visit: corporate.aboutyou.de/en.

MEDIA CONTACT
Laila Helmy | Corporate Communications
presse@aboutyou.com

Sinah Brending | Financial Communications
sinah.brending@aboutyou.com

INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT
Frank Böhme | Investor Relations
frank.boehme@aboutyou.com

DISCLAIMER
This publication constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy securities.

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" that involve several risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable using the words "may", "will", "should", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "project", "goal", or "target" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, forecasts, estimates, projections, opinions, or plans that are inherently subject to significant risks, as well as uncertainties and contingencies that are subject to change. No representation is made or will be made by ABOUT YOU Holding SE that any forward-looking statement will be achieved or will prove to be correct. The actual future business, financial position, results of operations, and prospects may differ materially from those projected or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Neither ABOUT YOU Holding SE nor any of their respective affiliates assume any obligation to update, and do not expect to publicly update, or publicly revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

¹ EBITDA adjusted for (i) equity-settled share-based compensation expenses, (ii) restructuring costs, and (iii) one-time effects

² Last twelve months