Kogan.com’s horror streak of losses continued into the first half of fiscal 2023, with the online retailer’s statutory loss doubling to $23.8 million 12 months ago, while revenue and sales plummeted by about a third.

Kogan.com (ASX: KGN) today announced its half-year results through December 2022, seeing gross sales decline 32.5% to $471.1 million and revenue decline 34.3% to $275.6 million in compared to 12 months ago.

Gross profit of $62.9 million was down 41.8%, hit by excess inventory and rebates to relieve it. The stock was cut in half from 12 months ago to $98.3 million as of December 31, with most of the decline coming in the second half of 2022 after the stock hit $159.9 million on June 30.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) saw a half-loss of $4.4 million, down 125%.

Adjusted net profit after tax (NPAT) was a loss of $9.6 million and statutory NPAT was a loss of $23.8 million.

The latest numbers follow a record $35.5 million after-tax net loss in FY22, when sales also fell 8% to $718.5 million.

Issues with inventory levels at the company first surfaced in April 2021, when founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan said they learned “valuable lessons” at the time.

Kogan is now seeing green shoots for the company after better results in January, an EBITDA gain of $1.5 million. The company is “expected to return to adjusted EBITDA profitability in 2HFY23,” it told the market.

The announcement of the ASX results was headlined “return to profitability on track as excess inventory largely resolved”.

Around this time last year, the announcement was headlined “More than 4 million active customers underpin another record for half of Kogan.com.”

According to today’s half-year numbers, the company has 3.323 million Kogan Group Active Customers – 2.55 million for Kogan.com, 773,000 for Mighty Ape.

Many of the details in H1FY23 results were already known, with Kogan.com stock falling about 20% in the month leading up to today’s announcement, then rising 2.3% to $3.50 in Monday trading.

Kogan.com shares are down about 36% from 12 months ago.

There was growth in the business in other verticals, with sales up year-over-year in Kogan Mobile Australia (5.9%), Kogan Mobile New Zealand (75.3%) and Kogan Money Credit Cards 96.9%).

Kogan Travel and Kogan Travel Insurance were relaunched and the company plunged into collapsed furniture retailer Brosa, buying its assets, including a database of 500,000 people, from the trustees for $1.5 million in December.

Ruslan Kogan said “the ship has stabilised” at his eponymous company and they are “glad to be coming out of a turbulent few years”.

He pointed to a strong balance sheet, with the company ending the six months with $74 million in net cash (after loans and borrowings), with funding of $14.2 million in tranche 3 of payments for the $25 Mighty Ape acquisition. million in loans and borrowings. , and paid $1.5 million for Brosa.

“We have a renewed focus on the ruthless efficiency that underpins our entire existence, and we have redoubled our efforts to deliver great value to customers. The first half paid off on several fronts,” said Kogan.

“Mighty Ape saw the successful transition from Gracie Mackinlay to CEO and received multiple awards for exceptional customer service. And Kogan First continued to grow as we continued to deliver more value to our most loyal customers.

“We look forward to the second half of this financial year with confidence. We have reset Kogan.com for success.”