Company Announcements

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION

For immediate release

23 September 2021

Seraphine Group plc

("Seraphine" or the "Group")

Trading Update

Seraphine, an international digitally-led maternity and nursing wear brand, today provides an update on trading following its admission to the London Stock Exchange on 16 July 2021.

The Group experienced a strong Q1 (13 weeks to 4th July 2021) with better than expected demand for higher priced categories and delivered year on year Group revenue growth of greater than 50%. However, trading in the second quarter has been more challenging than the Board anticipated.

The Group, along with the wider market, experienced supply chain issues from China due to the heavily delayed arrival of sea freight from late July. Whilst these stock issues have now been fully resolved, this meant that the Group had a stock holding significantly below plan from late July through to the end of August and was unable to fully satisfy customer demand. As a result, the Group experienced a loss of momentum on its own digital platform as it exited the summer months, capturing fewer customers at the beginning of their maternity cycle. This resulted in marketing spend in the period being less effective due to the lower mix of returning customers in the key Q2 trading month of September. Digital Partnerships are performing well, with the second quarter benefiting from a full impact of the Zalando partnership, however the physical retail environment remains challenging for the Group's eight retail stores.

As a result the Group now expects H1 year on year revenue growth to be circa 35% on a constant currency basis (circa 30% on variable currency) and Adjusted EBITDA pre-IFRS16 to be circa £2.5m (circa 15% below previous year).

Looking ahead to the full year, should the recent trends continue, the Group would expect revenue growth to be at least in line with H1 and profit to be at least in line with FY21 (on an Adjusted EBITDA pre-IFRS16 basis).

The management team is implementing the following actions which could lead to an improved full year outturn:

·    Marketing effectiveness: optimisation and redistribution of marketing spend in favour of demand creation channels to rebuild momentum

·    Supply Chain / Logistics: building more time contingency into the design and supply process

·    New market launches: the Group remains on track to launch a dedicated eCommerce site for the Netherlands in the coming weeks and to expand its Digital Partnership with Zalando into more Northern European Markets

David N Williams, CEO of Seraphine said:

"After a strong Q1 exceeding expectations with Group revenue growth of over 50%, it is extremely disappointing to have to report a weaker Q2 performance due to the significant impact of logistical headwinds and the subsequent momentum loss. I believe the actions we are taking are the right ones to ensure an improved second half performance and I remain fully confident in the future prospects for Seraphine."

The Board will provide a further update in the Group's Interim Results which are expected to be published in December 2021.

This announcement has been released by JTC (UK) Limited, Company Secretary on behalf of Seraphine.

Enquiries

For further information, please contact:

About Seraphine

Seraphine is an international digitally-led maternity and nursing wear brand with a diverse range of innovative maternity and nursing products serving an under-competed global market.

Seraphine was founded in 2002 with the vision of creating desirable clothes which women would want to wear even if they were not pregnant, and this ethos remains true to this day. The Group has over 18 years' experience designing and developing maternity and nursing wear for women from first trimester to post-partum and nursing products.

The Group has achieved global brand recognition through its rapidly growing digital platform, which in the year to 4 April 2021, contributed to approximately 89% of revenue. The Group currently exports products to customers in over 120 countries globally, with the Group's largest markets being Europe, North America and the UK.