Farfetch Ltd (NYSE: FTCH) stock rose over 12.9% on May 17th, 2021 (Source: Google finance) as the company swung to a profit in the first quarter on higher revenue as demand for luxury items online continues to grow amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company has reported profit after tax of $516.7 million, compared with a loss of $79.2 million a year earlier. Gross merchandise value, a key metric that looks at the total dollar value of orders processed, was $915.6 million, up from $610.9 million a year earlier, representing year-over-year growth of 49.9%. Digital Platform GMV grew by $295.1 million from $494.9 million in first quarter 2020 to $790.0 million in first quarter 2021, representing year-over-year growth of 59.6%. The increase in GMV was driven by the growth in Digital Platform GMV driven by strong order growth, new consumer acquisition and an increase in Marketplace AOV from $571 to $618 resulting from a higher average selling price, foreign exchange rate movements, higher full price mix of items sold and increased number of items per order. During first quarter 2021, the company also saw year-over-year growth in transactions through websites managed by Farfetch Platform Solutions, primarily driven by incremental activity from newly launched e-commerce sites over the past year, including Harrods.com and Off—White.com which were launched in first quarter 2020.
FTCH in the first quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted loss per share of 28 cents, which is in line with the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted loss per share of 28 cents, according to FactSet. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 46 percent to $485.1 million in the first quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $457 million. The revenue growth was driven by 68.1% growth in Digital Platform Revenue to $362.1 million partially offset by comparatively lower Brand Platform Revenue growth of 4.5% year-over-year.
The increase in Digital Platform Services Revenue of 54.4% was driven by 59.6% overall growth in Digital Platform GMV with Digital Platform Services first-party GMV, which is comprised of the sales of owned-inventory including First-Party Original, and included in Digital Platform Services Revenue at 100% of the GMV. Digital Platform Services first-party revenue rose 58.9% year-over-year to $104.8 million, mainly due to continued focus on growing New Guards direct-to-consumer sales on the Marketplace and the respective websites of the New Guards portfolio brands. In-Store Revenue grew by 25.4% to $10.7 million and was driven by the opening of additional New Guards portfolio brand stores over the past year.