KOGAN SHARES SURGE AS ONLINE RETAILER REPORTS STRONG GROWTH

PURE-PLAY online retailer Kogan (ASX: KGN) has released a quarterly update with revenue growth of 36 per cent and a slight rise in gross margins as it also predicts its trajectory to continue into the peak Christmas period.

As traditional retailers struggle because of weak consumer sentiment, Kogan reported it ended the first quarter of FY18 with cash of $25.8 million, a rise in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of 37.7 per cent and picked up 278,000 new customers.

"By continuing to delight our growing customer base with our various long-term business strategies, we are pleased to deliver a trading update that demonstrates ongoing strong year-on-year growth in revenue and profitability," says Kogan.com founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan (pictured).

"With a significant investment in high quality inventory and an exciting line-up of new product releases and promotional offers to be rolled out over the coming quarter, we are better poised to than ever to help out Santa Claus this Christmas."

The company, which has already launched NBN, travel and mobile broadband services, also reported its newly launched Kogan Insurance and Kogan Mobile were both performing strongly.

"Our new verticals continue to shine and attract customers with our compelling offering," Ruslan Kogan says.

"Kogan Mobile had impressive growth this quarter and in October celebrated its second birthday with an exceptionally popular promotion.

"Kogan Insurance is also off to a promising start after launching in August."

The company has increased its inventories by just over $12 million to $52.5 million ahead of an expected spike in sales leading into Christmas.

Kogan posted a 362 per cent rise in full year profit of $3.74 million in August for FY17.

At around 11am (AEDT), Kogan shares were up by just over 5 per cent to $4.58.