boohoo has seen its share price increase by 40% despite its revenue dropping by 23% year-on-year to £296.9m in the six months to 31 August.

The fashion retailer, which owns brands including PrettyLittleThing, boohooMan and Karen Millen, saw its operating costs move from a loss of £9.2m to a profit of £1.8m, while its statutory loss after tax decreased from £126.7m to £3.4m year-on-year.

Despite these improvements, pre-return sales dropped by 19% across the group, including by 41% and 31% across its youth brands and Karen Millen respectively.

As part of its strategic update, boohoo, which is set to rebrand to Debenhams Group, said that its "turnaround continues apace", reiterating its plan for the year to make progress in delivering against its three key strategic value drivers.

These include creating the right operating model, supercharging the Debenhams brand and pivoting towards fashion-led marketplaces.

Group chief executive officer at boohoo, Dan Finley, said: "Our turnaround is gathering real pace. We are making progress, we are moving fast, and we are transforming the business. We have returned all our brands to profitability and grown adjusted EBITDA. These results show that our strategy is working.

"Debenhams is leading the way. Its double-digit growth shows what is possible across the wider Group and reinforces that the marketplace model is the right one. Our youth brands and Karen Millen are following that lead, now fully marketplace enabled and profitable, with the foundations in place for their next phase of growth."

In its outlook, boohoo said it expects to deliver earnings of approximately £45m across total operations in the full year.

The group added that its board considers its market valuation to be well below intrinsic value and will continue to engage with its investors.

Furthermore, boohoo stated that its rebrand to Debenhams Group will not formally take place until "all major shareholders agree".

Head of markets at AJ Bell, Dan Coatsworth, said that this statement points towards Frasers, adding that boohoo’s patience with its shareholder has reached "breaking point".

He concluded: "Frasers hasn’t been explicitly named in the commentary, but it’s easy to guess which shareholder it is referring to. boohoo says that ‘a major competitor’ and ‘significant shareholder’ continues to seek to cause disruption. In essence, it implies that asking Frasers to vote on the new incentive plan would be pointless as the 29.7% shareholder might reject it, no matter the contents.

"The tense relationship between the two sides cannot stay this way forever – one side will need to back down, otherwise all kinds of chaos could ensue.

"Despite this drama, the market has lapped up boohoo’s latest results, sending its share price soaring. There is clear progress with the turnaround efforts as its marketplace model is resonating with shoppers. Costs are being stripped out of the business, and it is talking up the benefits of being leaner and keener."

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