Debenhams Group, the business formerly known as Boohoo, has made a statutory pre-tax profit of £28.3m in the six months to 31st August 2026, up from a £17.9m loss in the same period last year. It is the first time the group has been in profit before tax since August 2021.
Marketplace sales made up 38.9% of Debenhams Group’s gross merchandise value (GMV) before returns, compared with 32.7% a year ago. The company wants that figure above 50% over the medium term.
Total GMV before returns was up 1.8% at £863.8m. Debenhams Group grew 0.5% in the first quarter and 2.9% in the second.
Revenue at Debenhams Group dropped 3% to £409.6m. The group only counts its commission on partner brand sales as revenue, so reported revenue falls as the marketplace takes a bigger share, even while GMV goes up.
Most of the growth came from the Debenhams brand, which is home to the marketplace. Its GMV climbed 14.1% to £363.8m, which is now roughly two-fifths of everything Debenhams Group sells.
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The group’s own brands were either flat or in decline. Combined GMV for PrettyLittleThing and boohoo was up 1.1% at £368.8m. Karen Millen slipped 4.8% to £51.4m, and boohooMAN was down 28% at £79.8m.
At its trading update in September, Debenhams Group said it had about 30,000 partner brands on the platform.
Returns at Debenhams Group dropped 1.3 percentage points to 28.3%. Gross margin improved by 220 basis points to 54.1%, with the higher marketplace mix contributing.
Part of the headline profit is a one-off £40.6m non-cash gain from sub-letting a distribution centre in the US. Take that out, along with a lease credit that flattered last year’s numbers, and Debenhams Group’s pre-tax loss came in at about £12m, against roughly £52m a year earlier.
Fulfilment is also changing. Debenhams Group has brought in GXO to run fulfilment from its Burnley site once peak is over, and Burnley is no longer up for sale. Earlier, the group sold its Sheffield distribution centre to Primark for £90m.
Debenhams Group has stuck with its full-year guidance of at least £59m in adjusted EBITDA. It expects net debt to be close to zero by the end of the financial year in February 2027.
