Boohoo.com raises FY sales forecast for second time

British online fashion retailer Boohoo.com Plc nudged up its full-year sales forecast for the second time this year, driven by demand through the summer and spring seasons.

Shares in the company rose as much as 9.4 percent to 81.6 pence on Tuesday, taking the stock to its highest level since the retailer's market debut in March 2014.

The company, which designs, sources, markets and sells own-brand clothing, shoes and accessories, raised its sales growth forecast to between 28-33 percent from a range of 25-30 percent announced in June.

Boohoo also said it expects "improved" earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margins for the current financial year.

Liberum analysts upgraded their pretax profit expectations for the next three years and raised their target price on the stock to 90 pence from 80 pence.

Boohoo, which said in June it has 4.2 million active customers, said it had performed well during the first five months of the year, with an encouraging start to August.

The company also pointed to robust demand, adding that sales momentum in the first quarter had continued into the second.

"Boohoo is at the early stages of growth and is forecast to grow its sales rapidly when compared to the wider market and peers," Liberum analysts wrote in a note.

The analysts said the online clothing sector in Boohoo's core UK market was forecast to grow 36 percent to 9.4 billion pounds by 2018.

Liberum sees Boohoo's sales rising 96 percent over the same time period, with its share of the UK online clothing market expected to remain at 2 percent.

"This highlights that for the foreseeable future, there remains a significant growth opportunity," Liberum analysts said.

Boohoo's shares were up 8.4 percent at 80.67 pence at 0916 GMT.