boohoo lost £263M and renamed itself after the brand it once bought

On 26 August 2025 boohoo group published audited results for the year to 28 February 2025 that formalised the collapse of the ultra-fast fashion model it had built: revenue fell 46% to £790.3 million and the net loss widened 91% to £263.3 million, with a loss of £0.20 per share that missed analyst estimates.

The brands that made the group are now shrinking fastest. In the six months to 31 August 2025, GMV at the youth brands — boohoo, boohooMAN and PrettyLittleThing — fell 41%, and Karen Millen fell 31%. The only growth engine is Debenhams, the department-store name boohoo bought out of administration in 2021: revenue up 6.8% to £98.3 million, GMV up 20% to £318.8 million.

Under CEO Dan Finley the group has pivoted to a marketplace model — roughly 20,000 partners, every brand marketplace-enabled — and renamed itself Debenhams Group. The first-half figures show the price of the pivot: revenue down a further 23% to £296.9 million, but the after-tax loss narrowed to £3.4 million from £127 million a year earlier, and all brands returned to profitability. Management is paid to finish the job: a turnaround scheme offers Finley up to £148.1 million.

The shape of the case is a category leader whose model — cheap trend fashion at speed — was undercut by cheaper competitors, return economics and its own supply-chain reputation, choosing to become a landlord for other people's products under the name of the one brand still growing.