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AO World PLC on Wednesday reported record profit and announced a further £20.0 million shareholder return. The electricals retailer said pretax profit in the year ended March 31 more than doubled to £50.5 million from £20.6 million the year prior. Adjusted pretax profit climbed 16%, also hitting £50.5 million, a record, from £43.5 million. Revenue rose 11% to £1.27 billion from £1.14 billion. ‘These results represent an incredible team effort,’ Chief Executive John Roberts said. ‘And all delivered against a backdrop of rising costs.’ ‘We’ve also announced today our intention to return a further £20 million to our shareholders, which is a reflection of the cash this business now generates and the discipline with which we allocate it.’ It said £10 million will come from a special dividend, and the remainder from a buyback. AO World said: ‘Looking ahead, the external environment remains uncertain, with ongoing geopolitical volatility and continued inflationary pressures impacting both consumers and input costs across the economy. Notwithstanding these challenges, the strength of our value proposition, the non-discretionary element of much of our product range, our disciplined cost management and our continued investment in technology give us confidence in our ability to deliver FY27 PBT in line with current market expectations. We remain confident in achieving our medium-term objective to deliver a 5% PBT margin.’ Market expectations for pretax profit for financial 2027 range from £53.5 million to £55.8 million. The average consensus estimate is £54.6 million. It would represent profit growth of 8.1%, slowing from the rise delivered in financial 2026. Bolton, England-based AO World acquired musicMagpie for £10 million in December 2024. ‘In a little over 15 months since acquisition, musicMagpie has moved from being a [roughly] £6 million loss-making business to an annualised run rate profitable business. This turnaround reflects a series of decisive actions taken during the period, including the exit from the lossmaking US operation and the consolidation of the warehouse footprint to improve efficiency and cost control,’ the firm said. AO World shares fell 3.1% to 93.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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