Huddled Group Reports 81% Revenue Growth and Expects Maiden Operating Profit

Boop Beauty – early traction, big runway

Boop delivered £1.58 million revenue in H1 after its relaunch, and monthly orders have climbed from 862 at relaunch to over 7,000 this month. The opportunity is sizeable: management cites more than 10% of beauty products – £3.8 billion worth – going to waste annually in brand supply chains.

Challenges remain: range depth in key categories and intermittent stock. The plan is to widen the supplier base, improve availability, sharpen the brand voice, and leverage a variable-cost fulfilment model to lower breakeven and speed up delivery. Boop is not yet profitable, but category economics are favourable and the direction of travel is set.

Q3 trading update: operating milestones and guidance

August saw Discount Dragon and Nutricircle both report divisional operating profit. Crucially, the Group expects to post its maiden net operating profit across all brands before head office costs in September 2025. That’s an important marker on the road to Group-level profitability.

Revenue momentum continues: Q3 2025 is expected at circa £4.9 million, up 43% year-on-year, with management guiding that Q4 revenue will be not less than Q3. H2 losses are expected to narrow compared to H1 as margin initiatives bed in and fulfilment efficiencies kick in.

Basket Margin and Average Order Value: what they mean and why they matter

• Average Order Value (AOV) – the average revenue per order. Higher AOV spreads delivery and fulfilment costs over more revenue.
• Basket Margin – average revenue less cost of goods sold per order. It is the core driver of profit per order and operating leverage.

Huddled’s thesis is simple: fix the basket, fix the P&L. The Q3 improvements (Discount Dragon Basket Margin +20%; Nutricircle AOV +19% and Basket Margin +23% vs Q2) are the clearest signs yet that the model scales towards profit.

Cash, funding and the balance sheet

Cash at 30 June 2025 stood at £552,000, with inventories of £1.12 million. Current loans and borrowings were £653,000. Post period-end, Huddled raised £1.5 million at 3.2 pence per share via 46,875,000 new shares issued in July and August, bolstering working capital for stock and marketing.

The H1 cost base remains meaningful – administrative expenses were £2.07 million – and the Group recorded a total loss for the period of £1.99 million, or a basic loss per share of 0.60 pence. The move to brand-level operating profit before head office costs is encouraging, but cash discipline and continued margin improvement are still essential.

Operations: THG Ingenuity fulfilment to scale for peak

Huddled is transitioning fulfilment to THG Ingenuity, aiming to be fully embedded before Black Friday. Management expects faster turnaround times, higher scalability, improved delivery accuracy, and better proximity to stock suppliers. That should support the Q4 push for repeat frequency and new customer acquisition.

Execution risk is real whenever you move fulfilment partners, but if the switchover lands well, it should improve service quality while lowering unit costs – a helpful combination for margin and customer retention.

Key numbers at a glance

H1 2025 revenue	£9.48 million (H1 2024: £5.25 million)
Gross profit	£190,000
Operating loss	£1.88 million
Adjusted EBITDA	£(1.47) million
Orders in H1 2025	Over 292,000 (+98% year-on-year)
Items saved from waste	Over 4 million
Q3 2025 revenue (guidance)	Circa £4.9 million (+43% year-on-year)
Nutricircle Q3 revenue (guidance)	Circa £1.4 million (+146% year-on-year)
Cash at 30 June 2025	£552,000
Equity raised post period-end	£1.5 million at 3.2 pence per share

Leadership and governance changes

Michael Ashley has moved from Non-Executive Director to Group CEO, with Martin Higginson becoming Executive Chairman. The emphasis is on deep retail expertise, tighter supply chain disciplines, and relentless focus on basket economics. Early Q3 progress suggests the shift is paying off.

My take: why this update matters

There’s a lot to like here. Huddled is proving demand for its circular-economy proposition, growing fast and saving over 4 million items from waste. More importantly for investors, August saw two brands profitable at the divisional level, and September is set for the Group’s first month of operating profit before head office costs. That’s the milestone the market has been waiting for.

But keep an eye on the fundamentals. H1 showed very slim gross profit, and the transition to sustainable margin at scale is the crux. Cash was tight at period end, though the £1.5 million raise helps. The fulfilment move to THG Ingenuity, landing just before peak season, must be executed cleanly.

If Huddled holds the Q3 basket gains, embeds THG Ingenuity with improved service metrics, and nudges Boop Beauty into a broader, more reliable range, the model can compound. For now, the direction of travel is positive – with execution, margin consistency, and cash generation the key watchouts into Q4.