Indian fashion retailer Koovs PLC's shares plummeted after it announced flat H1 gross sales at £7.9m on Thursday as the company gears up for its acceleration plan.
Further to the flat gross sales of H1, the online western-style clothing company expects H2 sales to be down with FY 2018 sales expected to drop 22% to £14.5m, reflecting cash conservation in relation to the acceleration plan.

Focusing on cash preservation and fundraising in the short-term, the company had cash balances of £3.5m as at 1 March, with monthly outgoings forecast to be £0.75m per month.

According to a Koovs statement, the board requires a total of up to £50m of further investment to fund its acceleration plan, with the bulk of the funding dedicated to marketing and branding.

Waheed Ali, chairman of Koovs, said: "With over £70m invested in Koovs to date and with a series of business building successes achieved there is a clear opportunity to capitalise on the platform that we have built to unlock superior shareholder value over the coming years."

Koovs recently achieved a total 2.4m social media followers on Instagram and Facebook combined and has managed to achieve an average order to delivery time of three and a half days, quicker than the four day average for Indian online retailers.

Mary Turner, chief executive of Koovs, said: "Growth is already returning to India's e-commerce market following the introduction of demonetisation and the goods and services tax, and we believe that the strong fundamentals underpinning the market's long-term growth remain undeniable. As India's best-established affordable fashion brand with sector leading customer service and a significant social media following with the benefit of investment we will be well positioned to scale up the business by leveraging our competitive advantages."

As of 0854 GMT, Koovs PLC's shares were down 22.86% at 8.10p.

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