Online fashion company Farfetch reported after tax losses of £1.65 billion last year, despite growth in profits and revenue surging by 64 per cent.

The loss includes a £1.5 billion non-cash impact of higher share prices on items held at fair value and remeasurements.

However, the British-Portuguese business saw revenue hit £1.22 billion, while profit for 2020 reached £552 million.

“2020 put the Farfetch platform to the test, but thanks to our robust capabilities, resilient operations and utmost perseverance from our more than 5,000 Farfetchers, we rose to the challenge and enabled our nearly 1,400 Marketplace sellers and Farfetch Platform Solutions clients to continually serve millions of luxury consumers across the globe,” said José Neves, Farfetch founder and chief executive. “We cemented our leadership as the largest global online destination for luxury fashion, accelerated our Chapter 2 initiatives with strategic partnerships advancing our position to be the global platform for the luxury industry, and demonstrated the scale and attractiveness of our business model as we achieved the key milestone of Adjusted EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter."

He added: “As we enter 2021, I am more energized than ever by the prospects of leveraging our incredible achievements to date and our unique platform capabilities to go after the significant growth opportunities we see in our vision to be a digital enabler connecting the creators, curators and consumers of the global luxury industry, both online and offline – a nearly $300 billion opportunity we remain laser-focused on and plan to continue investing behind to deliver significant value over the long-term.”

Elliot Jordan, chief financial officer, Farfetch, said: “The strong performance of Farfetch in the fourth quarter completes a remarkable year and is the result of our focused execution against the long-term strategy and the leveraging of our investments to date. We exceeded our own initial expectations for the year; accelerating growth in our digital platform, improving margins across all areas of the business and delivering strong operating cash flows. As a result, we delivered our first ever quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA. Our industry partnerships and strategic alliances, as well as our $1.6 billion of liquidity, position us well to continue investing behind the long-term growth opportunities we see in digitally enabling the luxury industry.”

Share Story: