The Very Group CTO Andy Burton set to depart as retailer returns to profit
The Very Group’s Chief Technology Officer, Andy Burton, will depart in February 2021 to take on a new role in a different sector.
Burton joined the company last year from The Stars Group, an online gaming specialist, where he became a director following a merger with Sky Betting and Gaming in 2018.
A search is under way to find his successor. The Very Group made the announcement as it reported a return to profit, with revenue topping £2 billion for the first time.
Formerly known as Shop Direct, the company owns Very and Littlewoods. Announcing its full year results for the 52 weeks ended 30th June 2020, it recorded profit before tax of £48 million and underlying EBITDA of £264 million, each including Covid-19 related costs.
Also of interest: Paul Hornby rejoins The Very Group as Digital CX Director
It says that it has a cash balance of over £200 million and net debt has been reduced by £144 million.
Very.co.uk retail sales increased 10.5% to £1,230 million, driving Group revenue growth of 2.9% to £2,051 million. Its customers increased 14.1% to 3.4 million, boosting total Group customers by 10.6% to 4.5 million.
Littlewoods, however, continued to struggle, although its decline slowed at -8.8% to £460.9 million (compared with FY19: -11.3% to £505.3 million).
On the technology front, highlights included the opening of a new automated fulfilment centre, Skygate, on time and to budget and acceleration of the venture’s digital agenda during the coronavirus outbreak, including enabling contact centre colleagues to work from home for the first time.
There was also further investment in an AI-powered chatbot, which allows customers to ask common customer service queries in their own words. This manages 25,000 customer interactions per week, which grew to 30,000 during the pandemic.
The chatbot was previously only available via the Very app, but has now been launched on its website.
