Kogan founder and CEO, Ruslan Kogan.
Kogan predicted a full year profit of $6.9 million for its first year of public listing. The pro forma net profit after tax for the first half of the financial year - reaching $3.7 million - also surpassed the full year prospectus forecast of $2.5 million.
The retailer declared its first, fully franked interim dividend of 3.9 cents per share.
Revenue was up $39.1 million (37.3 per cent) from $104.7 million to $143.9 million in the six months ended 31 December 2016, compared to the prior corresponding period.
Kogan attributed the increase in revenue to customer growth by 18.2 per cent in 128,000 active customers, plus an increase in targeted marketing and the release of cash constraints following the IPO in June last year.
In terms of the improvements in gross margin, the company claimed "precision purchasing", its Kogan Mobile business and enhanced analytics to be key drivers.
The company said Kogan Mobile delivered stronger growth than expected as a consequence of the partnership with Vodafone, achieving 78.6 per cent of its full year FY17 prospectus forecast gross within the 1H17.
Since its founding in 2006, the Australian “pure play” e-commerce website has seen strong growth, particularly fuelled by the acquisition of legacy brick-and-mortar retailer Dick Smith, in June last year.
Following the purchase, Kogan founder, Ruslan Kogan, revamped the company as an online-only consumer electronics retailer.
Kogan relaunched the online store ahead of schedule on May 4, leveraging the same back-end logistics and supplier arrangements as Kogan.com.
The revamped store now stocks over 5500 products, with more than 1800 available for fast dispatch. At the time of the acquisition, Kogan said he looked to keep the legacy of the Dick Smith brand.
“We will invest in building and nurturing the Dick Smith community, and honour the great legacy of this Australian business,” he said, at the time.
“I remember as a kid always visiting Dick Smith to look for parts to upgrade my computer. There is a strong history of passion in the Dick Smith community for how technology can improve our lives, and we look forward to helping make it more affordable and accessible for all.”
According to Data Science Institute founder, Kevin McIsaac, Ruslan Kogan is a true example of a disruptor in the retail industry.
“He was one of the first to have a digital only model and everything was sold online. But he was also very clever with his strategy,” he told ARN.
“Ruslan would think of a product that people might want to buy and then he would find a manufacturer in China who would build it based on a spec and tell him what the cost was,” McIsaac explained.
“He would then advertise the product online before he built it and after seeing what the demand was through his website, he would bankroll the development of the product.”
