Bolton-based electrical retailer AO World plc said it completed the acquisition of photography retailer Jessops from Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones.
“The acquisition, funded from existing cash resources, supports our strategy of expanding into adjacent categories, giving customers and members more reasons to shop with AO and increase our share of wallet,” said AO World.
“Jessops brings a trusted brand and specialist expertise in cameras and optical technology, while its recommerce business, Camera Jungle, is highly complementary to our existing musicMagpie operations and further strengthens our circular economy credentials.
“We expect the business to grow over the next 12 months as we leverage AO’s scale, traffic and operational expertise to drive efficiencies.”
The acquisition news was included in a first-half trading statement from AO World for the period from April 1, 2026, to September 30, 2026.
“The business continues to perform strongly, with YoY Group revenue expected to be up 5.5% and PBT expected to be up by over 20% to c. £21.5m,” said AO World.
“This reflects the underlying strength of the business, with operational improvements in our Mobile and musicMagpie businesses.
“Whilst this performance represents a strong first half of the year, our full year profit expectations remain unchanged, reflecting both planned strategic investments, including our ERP programme, and a more challenging comparative environment in the second half.
“We anticipate ending the period with over £200m of liquidity headroom after the £10m dividend paid in June and the completion of half of the ongoing £10m share buyback programme. This underlines the strength of our cash generation and our commitment to disciplined capital allocation.”
AO founder and CEO John Roberts said: “We’ve carried our momentum into the new financial year with continued growth against a sluggish backdrop in the wider UK retail sector. Group revenue is up over 5%, profit is up more than 20% and cash generation remains strong. We have given over £29m of discounts to our members in the period, which is further proof that our shared economics model is doing exactly what it’s built to do.
“It has been a busy first half of the year as we both buy and build more category capability, give more reasons to be an AO member and continue to build growth engines for the future. To that end I am delighted to welcome Jessops into the AO family and look forward to growing the existing business as well as integrating the category into the wider AO business.
“Our plan is clear and we will keep delivering on it. We are firmly on our path to over 5% PBT margin as our next milestone and have clear growth and efficiency initiatives to make that happen. We will do this while continuing to share more of our scale economies with our members.
“Our service quality in the period hasn’t flickered despite a very challenging summer for our delivery teams in the heat and I would like to extend my thanks to them for their commitment to our customers. Maintaining our world-class Trustpilot score of 4.9 out of 5 on over a million reviews does not happen by accident. It is a company-wide obsession and one we never take for granted.
“There continues to be a lot of uncertainty in the world but we look forward to heading into peak trading with confidence and momentum behind us.”