Very Group
UK online retailer selling on credit, bundling shopping with its own BNPL and lending arm.
On the record
Checkpoint: Carlyle's ~£2bn auction concludes; JD.com and Elliott Advisors are named bidders
The call
Very's lending license and customer data still work, but who owns the company after 2026 will decide whether that engine gets invested in or stripped for parts.
Very Group sells clothing, home goods, and furniture online in the UK, and also lends money to customers through its own finance arm (which is regulated by the government and has detailed records on 4.2 million borrowers). The company is hard to copy because that credit license and customer data took years to build, but Very is in trouble: it lost £505 million in the last year, its auditor quit, and the company is being sold by its owner Carlyle to either JD.com or Elliott Advisors in mid-2026. The real threat is not Amazon (which avoids the regulated credit business) but cheaper fast-fashion sites like Shein and Temu stealing Very's clothing sales (down 3.7% last year) and newer lenders like Klarna taking its finance customers. What matters most over the next three years is who buys Very in that auction and whether they invest to fix the company or strip it for parts.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI shopping agents could route buyers to cheaper sites, but Very's credit approval process is the real product, not the catalog. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Amazon, Shein, Temu, and BNPL rivals like Klarna and Clearpay. Fashion sales fell 3.7% in FY25 as Shein and Temu undercut prices, while Klarna and Zilch chip at the credit margin Very depends on. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. An FCA license, a 4.2 million customer credit history file, and a catalog model built around paying in installments, hard for Amazon to copy without becoming a lender.
What would change this call
Outcome of Carlyle's June 2026 auction: JD.com vs Elliott Advisors as buyer. Shows whether Very stays a stable credit-retail operator or faces activist cost-cutting.
FY26 fashion category sales growth or decline versus FY25's -3.7%. Indicates whether Shein/Temu fast-fashion competition is accelerating or stabilising.
Whether Very Finance revenue and margin hold versus FY25's £434m amid BNPL competition. Shows if Klarna, Clearpay and Zilch are eroding Very's credit-driven earnings engine.
FY26 fashion category sales growth or decline versus FY25's -3.7%. Indicates whether Shein/Temu fast-fashion competition is accelerating or stabilising.
Whether Very Finance revenue and margin hold versus FY25's £434m amid BNPL competition. Shows if Klarna, Clearpay and Zilch are eroding Very's credit-driven earnings engine.
Key numbers
- FY25 statutory loss £505.4m vs £16.3m prior year
- Adjusted EBITDA £307.1m, margin 14.7%, record
- Headcount down 9.2% to 3,039 since 2023
Named risks
- Ownership uncertainty from active ~£2bn Carlyle auction with activist bidder Elliott Advisors.
- Statutory loss of £505.4m FY25 tied to financing/ownership write-offs.
- 2024 Deloitte auditor resignation flagged unresolved financing-structure transparency concerns.
- Headcount decline of 9.2% since 2023 signals continued cost-cutting.
- Fashion category share loss to Shein/Temu and BNPL entrants eroding core margin.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | contesting | Amazon UK online sales £26.4bn (2023) vs Very £2.087bn FY25, but avoids Very's regulated credit model |
| Shein/Temu | gaining on | Very fashion & sports sales fell 3.7% in FY25 amid heavy discounting pressure |
| Klarna/Clearpay/Zilch (BNPL) | gaining on | BNPL consolidators erode margin of Very's £434.0m FY25 credit arm |
| JD.com | contesting | Reported May 2026 bidder seeking to enter UK market via ~£2bn Very acquisition |
Questions people ask
- Is Very Group profitable in 2026?
- Not on a statutory basis. Very Group posted a £505.4m statutory pre-tax loss for FY25 (year to 28 June 2025) tied to ownership and financing write-offs, even as adjusted EBITDA hit a record £307.1m, up 15.9% YoY, at a 14.7% margin, per company and press reporting.
- Who owns Very Group now?
- US private equity firm Carlyle completed a takeover on 10 November 2025, becoming controlling shareholder and ending the Barclay family's 20-plus years of ownership since 2002. Abu Dhabi's IMI remains a key stakeholder, per Very Group's own November 2025 announcement.
- Is Very Group being sold again?
- Yes. Carlyle launched a formal roughly £2bn sale process for Very Group in June 2026, advised by Barclays and JP Morgan, with China's JD.com and activist firm Elliott Advisors reported as bidders as of June 2026, per Yahoo Finance reporting.
- Could AI replace Very Group's business?
- Unlikely for its core. Very's regulated consumer-credit book (Very Finance, £434.0m FY25 revenue) and FCA licensing plus proprietary debtor underwriting data form a regulatory moat AI cannot replicate; AI is deployed for forecasting and a chatbot handling 268,000 queries a month, not as a business substitute.
- Who is Very Group's biggest competitor?
- Amazon dominates UK online retail overall, forecast at £26.4bn in UK online sales for FY2023 versus Very's £2.087bn FY25 revenue, though Amazon avoids Very's regulated credit model; in fashion, Shein and Temu are pressuring Very, whose fashion sales fell 3.7% in FY25.
- Why did Deloitte resign as Very Group's auditor?
- Deloitte resigned as Very Group's auditor in March 2024, citing difficulty accessing information about the group's financing arrangements across its wider, partly unaudited, offshore-linked ownership structure, according to Wikipedia's account of the episode.
Timeline
- 2026-07-22JD.com, a reported Very bidder, faces EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation charges over its Ceconomy bid
- 2026-06-22Carlyle launches formal ~£2bn sale/auction of Very Group with Barclays and JP Morgan as advisers
- 2026-04-28Edward Fry appointed permanent CFO of Very Group
- 2025-11-10Carlyle completes takeover of Very Group, ending Barclay family's 20+ year ownership
- 2025-06-28FY25 year end: record adjusted EBITDA £307.1m but £505.4m statutory pre-tax loss
- 2024-03Deloitte resigns as Very Group auditor citing financing-information access issues
- 2024Nadhim Zahawi becomes chairman of Very Group
- 2021Carlyle and Abu Dhabi's IMI become lenders to Very Group
- 2002Barclay family buys Littlewoods, later merged into Shop Direct/Very Group
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Record FY25 earnings for The Very Group despite fashion drop (2025-10-24)
- The Very Group announces new ownership and strengthened capital base to support future growth (2025-11-10)
- Very Group put up for sale after Barclay family lose control (2026-06-22)
- The Very Group (2026-04-27)
- The Very Group (2026-06-15)
- Very Group Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Top 30 Ecommerce Retailers 2024 (2024-01-01)
- Shein vs H&M vs Zara (2024-10-16)
- Amazon Forecast customers (2026-07-08)
- Company Analysis & Supplier Recommendations (2026-07-08)
- Barclay family's Very Group taken over by US private equity firm Carlyle (2025-11-10)
- JD.com set to be hit with EU subsidy charges over Ceconomy deal (2026-07-22)