Shop Direct chief insists IPO not on the card for online retailer

Shop Direct's chief executive has insisted a stock market flotation is not the card for the Barclay brothers' online retail business despite posting an increase in profits.

Alex Baldock said: “We’re not the finished article and we’re nowhere close to the full potential of this business. An IPO is not on our minds at all.”

His comments come as the company, which owns the online brands Very and Littlewoods, reported that pre-tax profits jumped by 512 per cent to £40.4 million in the year to the end of June, with sales increasing by 3 per cent to £1.74 billion.

The group, which sells 90 per cent of its goods on credit and targets less affluent shoppers, said that for the first time more than half of all online sales are now completed on tablets or smartphones. It also said it had served 1.4 million new customers.

Its Very business was the best performer, with sales climbing by 23 per cent thanks, in part, to a range designed by the celebrity DJ Fearne Cotton, and Baldock plans to introduce more high-end fashion, including the Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld and Moschino brands.

He said: “Every time we’ve brought in more premium products to customers, they’ve been lapped up.

“These are the brands that people are asking for — so much so, we’re the number one Ugg [footwear] seller in the UK.”

However, its heritage brands Littlewoods and KandCo, declined by 7.6 per cent.