By Linda Pasquini
(Reuters) -Online fashion retailer Zalando reported a jump in third-quarter growth on Thursday, mainly driven by the inclusion of its newly acquired About You business, lifting its shares.
Zalando also announced a five-year partnership with Germany’s DFB national soccer federation as part of efforts to build on its growing sportswear category.
Shares in Zalando rose 6% to 24 euros by 0822 GMT.
Zalando said its gross merchandise volume (GMV), a key metric measuring the value of all goods sold, rose 21.6% to 4.2 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in the quarter.
“Results evidence an impressive re-acceleration of GMV and revenue growth,” analysts at Jefferies wrote in a client note.
If About You had been part of the group in the same period a year ago, the quarterly GMV increase would have been 6.7%.
Zalando has focused on higher-priced brands and the growing sportswear category, along with scaling up its partner business, as it faces competition from fast-fashion retailers with cheaper offerings such as Shein.
Quarterly revenue, which includes Zalando’s logistics network and marketing services, rose by 26.5% to 3 billion euros, above analysts’ forecasts of 2.9 billion euros, according to LSEG data.
“The exciting new partnership with the German Football Federation DFB will allow us to boost our sports business further,” Zalando co-CEO David Schroeder said in a statement.
Zalando, which has expanded into sports including soccer, running and cycling, said its logo would feature on all training and pre-match kits for the DFB men’s, women’s and youth teams.
The partnership, which comes ahead of the soccer World Cup next year, included a wide range of marketing rights but not exclusivity rights for distribution of the national team kits, a spokesperson for Zalando said.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Linda Pasquini in Gdansk, additional reporting by Helen Reid in London; editing by Matt Scuffham and Alexander Smith)
