Online homewares store Temple & Webster has seen its impressive run continue through the holiday season, with the six months to December 31 bringing a 556 per cent boom in EBITDA.

Revenue rose 118 per cent to $161.6 million, while earnings hit $14.8 million from $2.3 million during the same period last year.

“While 2020 remained a challenge for the country, we are proud that many Australians continued to turn to Temple & Webster for their furniture and homewares needs,” Temple & Webster chief executive Mark Coulter said.

“[This result] allows us to accelerate our investment into areas such as data, technology, private label and brand awareness to further differentiate our proposition.”

And the second half of the business’ financial year has already started strongly, Coulter said, with January’s revenue growth tracking above 100 per cent.

However, the results fell short of Goldman Sachs’ expectations for the business, which predicated an EBITDA result of $17.6 million and revenue of $171.1 million, according to The Motley Fool.

At the time of writing, shares in Temple & Webster had fallen 8.75 per cent.

Regardless, the business expects the powerful tailwinds of Australia’s accelerated adoption of online retail to continue well into 2021: with restrictions on travel and a recovery of the housing market and unemployment levels likely to further grow Temple & Webster’s business.

“Our strategy of being a category specialist, with a clear customer offering built around the biggest and best range of furniture and homewares in the country, combined with the most inspirational content and services and a great delivery experience and customer service, is working,” Coulter said.

“The advantages of being the online market leader are apparent as we continue to grow our market share.”