Richard Bradbury, executive chair of family-owned fashion retailer River Island, is stepping down from his role, citing personal reasons, the retailer conformed in a statement.
Photo: Sandra Halliday
Following the announcement of his departure, River Island also said Ben Lewis, who is related to founder and owner Bernard Lewis, will return to the position of CEO with immediate effect. Clive Lewis, the son of the founder, will also take on his previous role as non-executive chair with immediate effect.
Ben Lewis, who previously held the CEO position for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2019, said: “I am excited to be rejoining River Island at such a pivotal time.”
He added: “Richard has built a great team, and I look forward to working with them to continue to develop the business and capture the many opportunities ahead.”
Bradbury, who had served as its CEO until 2010, rejoining River Island in December 2022, added: “It has been a great honour to have worked in this amazing business twice. The River Island team is incredible, and during the last two years we have achieved so much together to position the business for its next phase. I know [it] will be in strong and capable hands under the experienced leadership of Ben.”
After swinging to a loss in 2023, River Island reportedly last month drafted in consultants from AlixPartners to focus on profit improvement.
Global fashion retailer H&M has announced plans to open its first store in El Salvador in the second half of 2025 through franchise partner Hola Moda.
H&M to open first store in El Salvador. – H&M
The move marks a continued expansion in the Latin American market as the company strengthens its presence across the region.
H&M currently operates in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica. The upcoming launch in El Salvador will further cement the brand’s footprint in Central America.
In addition to the El Salvador opening, H&M previously announced plans to enter Brazil with its first store and online platform by the end of 2025.
In 2024, the retailer opened 88 new stores globally and continued its efforts to revamp key locations across the U.S., Canada, and Ecuador. It currently operates in 77 store markets and 60 online markets.
DBG Group has acquired Australian beauty brand MCoBeauty, with an approximate valuation of AUD$1 billion.
MCoBeauty
DBG Group, owned by billionaire Dennis Basta, previously took a 50 percent stake of MCoBeauty in 2022. The owner of fellow beauty brands Nude by Nature and Esmi skin Minerals has taken full ownership of the dupe beauty brand, according to local media reports.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded by Shelley Sullivan in 2020, MCoBeauty describes itself as Australia’s fastest growing masstige beauty brand, amassing a cult following for its affordable beauty products, recognised by their baby pink packaging.
“When I started MCoBeauty, the market was dominated by the big global beauty icons Revlon, Maybelline and Rimmel,” said Sullivan. “We had just six MCoBeauty SKUs on the shelves and I told someone in the industry that my goal was to break into the global masstige beauty space. They told me it was not possible. This set the challenge in my mind — and I just went for it. There really is nothing like being told you can’t do something to give you drive, and for that I’m grateful.”
Prior to MCoBeauty, Sullivan launched her higher-priced ModelCo beauty brand, which logged successful collaborations with a range of celebrities including the likes of Hailey Bieber, Celeste Barber, Elle Macpherson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Karl Lagerfeld.
In April last year, MCoBeauty made its United States debut exclusively at Kroger Family of Stores, launching more than 250 beauty and skincare products in-store across the American retail chain.
Mytheresa results are always closely watched and now that it’s buying YNAP, it’s even more in the spotlight. So what did Tuesday’s report tell us about what will this year become just about the top global luxury e-tailer?
DR
For a start, its performance is improving and it’s getting closer to absolute profitability. It saw double-digit net sales growth with a 13.4% year-on-year rise in Q2 of FY25 (the 12 months to June this year). And it enjoyed continuous US expansion with 17.6% net sales growth in the quarter.
Also, there was “GMV per Top Customer” growth of 13.6 % and average order value rose 9% to €736. The company puts a lot of time and money into special top customer events and in making big-spenders feel that splashing the cash on its site is really worth it. For the latest quarter think ‘money-can’t buy’ experiences in partnership with luxury brands, including a mountain experience with Zegna and anexclusive two-day Nordic winter experience with Moncler Grenoble in Oslo!
The numbers
So, let’s get into the details. The quarter that covered October to December saw net sales rising to €223 million from €196.6 million. During the first half as a whole net sales had risen 10.6%, so the Q2 13.4% rise means growth accelerated in the second quarter in particular.
Overall general merchandise value (GMV) increased 11.9% to €244.7 million in Q2.
Profits-wise, it saw a strong gross profit margin of 50.9%, a rise of 110 bps, while adjusted EBITDA was €16.2 million, up from €7.5 million a year ago, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.3%.
Adjusted operating income for the quarter was €12.2 million, much better than €3.7 million 12 months earlier.
On an absolute basis, the company remains loss-making, but the net loss this time was only €4.7 million, narrower than €5.8 million a year ago and much lower than the €28.2 million loss made for the first half as a whole.
As mentioned, the company enjoyed progress in the US and among its highest-spending customers as it launched exclusive capsule collections and pre-launches in collaboration with Khaite, Alaia, Saint Laurent, Loewe, Gucci, Miu Miu, Moncler, Bottega Veneta and more.
It continued the expansion of its fine jewellery offer with the launch of the Bulgari brand online, “supporting ongoing top customer focus and high-value item growth”.
It all means that for the full year, the company (which is changing its name to LuxExperience to reflect its multi brand status when it acquires YNAP) expects GMV and net sales growth in the range of 7% to 13%. It also expects an adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 3% to 5%.
CEO Michael Kliger said of all this: “We are very pleased with our results in a still-volatile macro environment. With strong, accelerating revenue growth and positive, significantly improved adjusted EBITDA margin in the second quarter, we continued our very positive business momentum from the previous quarters and have achieved a significant step up in financial performance in H1 of fiscal year 2025 compared to H1 of fiscal year 2024.
“We have reaffirmed our leadership position in terms of financial performance and reputation in digital luxury. Our clear focus on the high-spending, wardrobe-building top customers sets us apart and allows us to win market share and grow profitably. Strong Top Customer revenue growth, an outstanding average order value and excellent customer satisfaction scores demonstrate our relentless customer focus which is a key success factor for Mytheresa.”
Entertainment8 years ago