After a good start to the fall and winter season, the online retailer Zalando is raising its forecast for the year.

For 2024, the company now expects sales growth of two to five percent to up to 10.7 billion euros and an adjusted operating result (EBIT) of between 440 and 480 million euros. This would be a significant increase of up to 40% compared to the previous year's EUR 350 million. The company had previously targeted EBIT of between 380 and 450 million euros for 2024 and had not ruled out stagnating sales. In early trading on Friday, Zalando shares rose by almost two percent and several analysts revised their price targets upwards. "Overall, this was a positive and encouraging update from Zalando," wrote analysts at JP Morgan.

According to preliminary figures, the third quarter went surprisingly well with a five percent increase in sales to 2.4 billion and a quadrupling of EBIT to 93 million euros. According to the company, analysts had expected an average EBIT of only 59 million euros. "An impressive Q3" was the comment from analysts at Baader Helvea. Zalando's Co-CEO Robert Gentz explained that demand had increased across the industry in the third quarter, "with a strong start to the fall/winter season in contrast to the slow start in the previous year." Zalando now has more than 50 million active customers. The Group intends to continue investing in factors such as customer loyalty, shopping experience and the European logistics network in the future. However, the Group is reducing the planned investment amount: instead of 250 to 350 million euros, only 200 million euros are now planned for investments. Zalando plans to publish its full quarterly report on November 5.

In the wake of the European Football Championships and the Olympic Games, Zalando achieved a double-digit percentage increase in sales of sportswear. In addition, the expansion of lifestyle offerings and the opening of the online platform to other retailers is paying off.

(Report by Sabine Wollrab. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)