About You's sales growth has slowed ahead of the planned takeover by rival Zalando.

The online fashion retailer also saw only a slight improvement in operating profit, according to the quarterly results published on Thursday. However, the business customer division Scayle was once again a bright spot, growing disproportionately.

Recurring license revenues for the "Scayle" software, which around 200 companies use to operate their own online shops, rose by around 30 percent, About You announced. Total revenues in this segment increased by almost seven percent to 55 million euros. The operating margin improved to 34.1 percent from 22.9 percent in the previous quarter. Overall, this figure was 3.6 percent.

Group sales grew by 1.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 558.9 million. Analysts had expected 584.3 million euros. In the second quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, About You had recorded an increase of almost double that amount. Adjusted operating profit in the past quarter was 20.1 million, only slightly above the figure for the same period of the previous year.

(Report by Hakan Ersen, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)