Lulu Retail Reports $6 Billion in 9M 2025 Revenue, Profit Up 7.5%

Manal Saleh

Sustained Performance Driven by Expanding Stores, Rising Footfall, and 32% Surge in E-commerce Sales

Lulu Retail Holdings PLC (“Lulu” or the “Company”), the largest pan-GCC full-line retailer, today announced its financial results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2025 (“9M 2025”).

• 9M 2025 revenue of $6.0 billion, +4.7% year-on-year

• Q3 2025 revenue of $1,896 million, +2.0% year-on-year 

• EBITDA for 9M 2025 increased to $598 million, +5.5% year-on-year and margins improved by 8 bps over the prior period

• Net profit from continuing operations increased 7.5% year-on-year to $163 million for the first three quarters

• Six new stores opened in Q3 2025, taking the total to 13 in the first nine months. A further three opened in October 2025

• Continued growth in e-commerce channel with Q3 2025 revenues increasing by 32.4% year-on-year

• 9M 2025 margins benefitted from 6.4% growth in private label business, as customers continue to seek value products

• Half a million Loyalty members added in Q3 2025, loyalty-linked sales climbed to 71.8%

Saifee Rupawala, Chief Executive Officer of Lulu Retail, commented: “Amidst a challenging grocery retail environment, Lulu continues to show resilience as we execute on our growth strategy. Year-on-year customer count growth of almost 5% demonstrates the strong appetite for Lulu’s value to premium offering. Nine months into the year our store rollout programme remains on track and like-for-like sales are positive in all our countries except Bahrain. 

“As customer preference for online channels continues to grow, Lulu is investing in our e-commerce offering which is scaling at a rapid rate. Furthermore, we are evolving our customer offering with a trend towards smaller stores and a disciplined rollout programme. Combined with internal efficiency measures, the decisions we are taking today will help us to continue to be the leading pan-GCC full-line retailer in the years to come.”

Financial summary

Revenue growth continued in Q3 2025

Q3 2025 revenue totaled $1,896 million, +2.0% year-on-year. Overall 9M 2025 revenue of $6.0 billion represents a 4.7% increase year-on-year. Whilst like-for-like sales stand at +2.5% for 9M 2025, in Q3 2025 like-for-like sales declined 1.0%. In the quarter customer count increased, although average basket value declined, indicating smaller spend per visit despite higher footfall. 

• Sales growth has been led by high demand for fresh food and electrical goods. Fresh food demand has been supported by Lulu’s growing e-commerce channels. This growth has been partially offset by slower demand for lifestyle goods. 

• E-commerce continues to scale with year-on-year growth of 32.4% in Q3 2025 aligned to 33.6% year-on-year growth for 9M 2025. Lulu’s partnerships with aggregators remains a significant source of revenue growth, but investments in the Company’s own offering is seeing high growth in order volumes. 

• Private label products remain in high demand as consumers demonstrate ongoing price sensitivity. This is reflected in volumes growing at a faster rate than sales. During the quarter, private label sales increased 6.2%, taking penetration to 30.6%. 

Profit margins remain stable

Gross profit increased 3.1% in Q3 2025 to $449 million. This exceeded the revenue growth rate as gross margin increased 26 basis points as the high margin fresh food category saw strong growth. EBITDA of $180 million in Q3 2025 represented broadly flat margins year-on-year. Similarly, net profit margins for Q3 2025 were also flat year-on-year, with $36 million reported for the period. 

Strong balance sheet maintained

The Company’s balance sheet remains stable and strong. Net debt of $2.6 billion equates to an overall net debt/EBITDA position of 3.2x and 1.4x excluding lease liabilities, which is similar to prior periods. 

Strategic progress

During Q3 2025 Lulu opened one hypermarket, three express and two mini markets in the UAE, KSA and Kuwait, adding a total retail space of 18,047 square meters. This takes Lulu’s total retail space gross additions to approximately 49,428 square meters during 2025. Three stores were opened in October and a further four are schedule for November and December, taking total openings to 20 for the year. Two stores were closed in the quarter, one express store in the UAE and a mini market in KSA. Over the next three years our opening programme has been reviewed and now comprises 50 openings split roughly equally between the UAE, KSA and our other GCC markets.