Beauty business Adore Beauty has finished up its first half as a public company, unveiling a record half of $96.2 million in revenue – 85 per cent up on the same time last year.

Gross profit margin also grew 1.4 percentage points to 32.5 per cent during the six months to 31 December, driving an EBITDA of $5.2 million, an 188 per cent increase.

“I’m pleased to present our first set of results as an ASX-listed company,” said Adore Beauty’s chief executive Tennealle O’Shannessy.

“We have delivered record growth and financial performance, exceeding our prospectus forecast.”

In the business’ recent prospectus, it assumed revenue would land at $89 million and EBITDA at $3.3 million.

Additionally, the business was able to reach a number of new customers during the half, with active customers increasing 82 per cent to 777,000. Adore’s brand awareness spiked after a national TV advertising campaign 52 per cent, and its branded podcast downloads skyrocketed 84 per cent to 930,000 for the half.

Moving forward, the business expects it online leadership to continue in the beauty space, as Covid-19 pushes more customers online and as the channel becomes more important to higher-end premium beauty brands.

“We are executing a clear strategy to cement our online market leadership position, and we are well positioned to capture market share in a large and growing market benefitting from structural tailwinds,” O’Shannessy said.