Everything you need to know about Boohoo shares

Boohoo shares: the basics

Boohoo Group shares trade under the ticker BOO on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, and the company is a constituent of the FTSE AIM 100 Index. As of February 2021, the company had 4,969,250 shares in circulation and a market capitalisation of £4,332.48 million.

The price of Boohoo shares is largely driven by its earnings releases, any news concerning the company, macroeconomic data, and the economic health of the UK.

Want to trade Boohoo shares? Open an account today or practise trading in a demo account first.

Boohoo share price performance

Boohoo shares had an extremely turbulent time in 2020 – falling to a low of 157p in the equities sell-off in March and rising to 412p in June. The fashion retailer saw rising profits as coronavirus lockdown restrictions led to a surge in online shopping, with worldwide sales tallying £368m in the quarter to May.

However, the rising sales weren’t enough to keep Boohoo stock in the clear. BOO shares fell by 25% in summer 2020, following allegations of modern slavery in its Leicester factories. The brand quickly cut 67 of its suppliers in the city.

In October 2020, Boohoo stock experienced another sharp decline when its auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) resigned amid the ongoing concerns over Boohoo’s reputation. The snub was just another red flag for investors, who immediately started selling their holdings. Boohoo’s board of directors stepped in and purchased significant numbers of shares to steady the market price.

Boohoo shares still hadn’t fully bounced back from the scandal in February 2021 – largely due to investors’ increasing interest in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policies. Overall in the 12-month period, Boohoo shares saw an absolute return of 8.07%.

However, Boohoo’s results have continued to show steady growth for the company. In the four months to 31 December 2020, the group had a total revenue of £660.8 million, compared to £473.7 million in the same period the year before.

How to buy and sell Boohoo stock

1. Open an account
2. Search ‘Boohoo.com’ in our platform
3. Choose our CFD or spread bet market
4. Decide whether to ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
5. Enter your position

When trading Boohoo stock, you’ll be buying and selling Boohoo Group plc – the parent company of Boohoo.com, as well as other brands like PrettyLittleThing, MissPap, NastyGal, and most recently Debenhams.

You can speculate on the price of Boohoo shares via spread bets and CFDs. Unlike traditional investing, you won’t take ownership of the underlying assets, which means you can go long or short – benefiting from rising and falling prices.

Spread bets and CFDs are also leveraged, so you can get full market exposure for just a small initial deposit – known as margin. While leverage can magnify your profits, it can also magnify your losses. This makes it important to have a risk management strategy in place before you enter your position.

What is the Boohoo business model?

Boohoo’s is an online fashion retail company that specifically caters to the under 30-year olds who take their style from social media influencers. The company aims to sell on-trend clothes without the price tag.

Boohoo’s model is what is called ‘test and repeat’ – they buy small batches of lots of new styles, every single day. They then push them onto their website, monitor their popularity, and discard the styles that don’t meet their sales criteria. Boohoo has said that a piece of clothing can be made in just two weeks – the industry standard is between four to six weeks.

Boohoo’s ‘fast fashion’ business model has come under fire from politicians, consumers, and investors. Not only has the company been accused of poor working conditions, but of generating too much waste from its disposable clothing plan.

Who owns Boohoo?

Boohoo is owned by entrepreneur Mahmud Kamani and designer Carol Kane, who set up Boohoo in 2006. After Kamani bought shares to steady the price in October 2020, his stake in the company now sits at around 12.5%.

Boohoo Board of Directors

What brands does Boohoo own?

Boohoo owns other online retailers PrettyLittleThing and NastyGal. But throughout 2020, the company has added several struggling firms to its umbrella.

Boohoo raised nearly £200 million in a May 2020 funding round specifically for acquisitions. They went on to buy MissPap, Karen Millen, and Coast, as well as Oasis and Warehouse who went into administration amid coronavirus lockdowns.

The company announced in January 2021 that it had acquired the Debenhams brand and its website but none of its high-street stores for £55 million. They also announced plans to buy a few Arcadia brands after the firm went into administration in late 2020, including Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, and Burton. The market is certainly competitive now, with other retailers - such as ASOS and the Frasers group - also targeting other Arcadia brands for acquisitions.