BUSINESS LIVE: Phoenix weighs SunLife sale; AO World profits beat forecasts; REVB lifted by cost cuts

AO World profits beat forecasts last year as the British online consumer electrical retailer’s plan to focus on efficiency kicked in, and it said it expected it to grow by at least 6 per cent this year despite the tough economy.

AO, which sells washing machines, fridge freezers, cookers, TVs, laptops and mobile phones across the UK, posted an adjusted pretax profit of £34million for the 12 months to the end of March, compared to guidance for it to come in at the top end of a £28million to £33million range.

The group has forecast profit in the range of £36million to £4 million, on double-digit revenue growth.

The company, which has a 15 per cent market share of the domestic appliance market in the UK, exited the German market in 2022 and has over the last year cut costs, removed lower value products from its range and introduced delivery charges as part of a plan to improve profitability.

AO said it was confident of further profit growth in the medium-term despite what it called ‘ongoing macro-economic challenges’ following two years of high inflation.

Morrisons is opening more convenience stores as its price war with Aldi and Lidl shows signs of paying off.

The supermarket group said it intends to open around 400 more Morrisons Daily shops to hit a total of 2,000 in 2025.

Insurance firm Phoenix Group is exploring a potential sale of its over-50s specialist SunLife business after receiving expressions of interest from potential buyers.

Phoenix told investors it had concluded that SunLife, which reported profit after tax of £16million in 2023, ‘is no longer core to the delivery’ of the group’s ‘vision of becoming the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business’.

It added: ‘The Board has therefore decided to begin a sale process, having received a number of initial expressions of interest from third parties. However, there can be no certainty at this stage that a disposal will occur.’