EBITDA has come in ahead of market expectations giving the company plenty of ammunition to invest in new brands over H2 such that consensus forecasts are likely to remain unchanged this morning. Pleasingly, the boohoo brand and UK have seen a significant acceleration in performance over Q2. The details H1 FY20 Group sales £564.9m, +43% YoY (consensus: £547.7m, +39% YoY), implying a satisfactory finish to Q2 with Group sales +47% over P2 (P2 implied consensus sales growth estimate: +39%), driven by an acceleration in the boohoo brand and within the UK, where sales went from +27% in P1 to +41% in P2 Performances in the ROE and US were sustained, up c.68% and 64%, respectively. Adj. EBITDA £60.7m, +53% YoY (consensus: £56.6m) with margin up 80bps at 10.8%, meaning boohoo is on track to meet full year guidance for 10% EBITDA margins. By division boohoo H1 sales were £281m, +34%, implying sales also accelerated over P2 to +41% (P1: +27%) and above expectations (H1 consensus: +26%). Gross margins were +20bps for the half, despite a very tough comparative over Q2 when promotions were reduced last year. The performance at PLT remains solid; we estimate sales growth was 41% during P2 (H1: +41%; P1: +42%; H1 consensus: +44%). While comparatives were softer last year (when stock was transitioned to the new Sheffield warehouse), we suspect boohoo’s acceleration in this period may have affected PLT’s. In line with management’s expectations, gross margins continue to normalise and are down 200bps over H1 (P1: -280bps). Elsewhere, the performance at Nasty Gal remains strong +148% (P1: +153%). Outlook & Valuation There is no change to guidance following the recent trading update where full year sales growth guidance was raised to +33% to +38%, with EBITDA margins of 10%. (IFRS16 adjusted) and 9.5% (pre IFRS16 adjusted). Consensus for FY20 sales growth is 36% with EBITDA margin 9.6%. Medium term sales and margin guidance has also been maintained at +25% and c.10% respectively. We continue to believe valuation is undemanding on 19.5x FY21e EV/EBITDA.