Sportamore, the Swedish online sports retailer, raised its sales by 18.1 percent to 173.5 million Swedish kronor (€18.0m-$19.6m) and more than doubled its adjusted operating profit (Ebitda) to SEK 3.4 million (€0.35m-$0.38m) for the first quarter. The company points out that this occurred while the Swedish market was under considerable pressure at the start of the year. Sportamore says it continued to strengthen its position in the Nordic market, enlarging its customer base by 130,000 customers compared with the year-ago quarter, to reach more than 725,000 active customers. The average number of orders per active customer was on the rise and the same applies for the average order value, which increased from SEK 503 to SEK 508 (€52.6m-$57.3m). The Swedish retailer completed a new share issue in the quarter, which brought in SEK 89.6 million (€9.28m-$10.1m) before issue costs, to deal with requirements in terms of stock movement and warehousing. Sportamore points out that it was previously fully financed for its ongoing operations, but the share issue provides it with more flexibility to finance planned automation. The group should have access to its new warehouse from the start of July and transfer its logistics in the third quarter. The retailer ended the three months with net profit of SEK 2.4 million (€0.25m-$0.27m), up from SEK 1.0 million.

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