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LuLu Retail has announced its H1 2025 financial results, delivering a solid 9.1 percent year on year increase in net profit to $127 million. The revenues rose to $4.1 billion (up 5.9 percent YoY), and like-for-like sales increased by 3.8 percent, driven by robust performance across key categories.

In Q2, the company reported revenues of $2 billion, up 4.6 percent YoY with a strong sales growth. This performance was bolstered by continued growth in the private label and e-commerce categories.

LuLu’s private label grew 3.5 percent YoY, accounting for 29.7 percent of retail revenue, while e-commerce maintained its momentum with sales up 43.4 percent YoY to $108 million, representing 5.6 percent of retail revenue. The gross profit increased 6.5 percent YoY to $468 million. The EBITDA grew 7.6 percent YoY to $204 million.

LuLu Retail has declared an interim dividend of $98.4 million (3.5 fils per share), corresponding to a payout ratio of 78 percent of H1 2025 distributable profits — consistent with the IPO dividend policy.

Meanwhile, LuLu’s Happiness loyalty program added 1 million new members during the quarter, bringing the total membership to 7.3 million.

LuLu opened seven new stores in H1, in addition to four more in July, taking the total to 259. Its full-year target of 20 new stores remains on track.

“Our steady and resilient H1 2025 performance is a testament to our well-established growth pillars, enabling record sales and margin improvements. We expect our growth momentum to persist as we focus on expanding our store network, launching new outlets, enhancing operational efficiency, and unlocking further potential through private label and e-commerce offerings,” said Saifee Rupawala, CEO of Lulu Retail.

Regional performance
In the UAE, LuLu’s largest market, the Q2 revenue was up 9.4 percent YoY, driven by continued high demand for fresh food and supported by LuLu’s omni-channel strategy. In ��������, the revenue grew 3.8 percent YoY, aided by strong electronic goods sales and new store openings. Meanwhile, in Kuwait, the revenue grew by 4.9 percent YoY, showing a consistent positive performance.

Platinumlist, a Middle East entertainment discovery platform with more than 9 million users, has announced a comprehensive rebranding of its platform. This step is a response to the booming events sector in the MENA region, which has resulted in evolving user and partner demands for flexibility, consistency and personalization. Since its founding in 2009, Platinumlist has expanded from a single event type to successfully ticketing more than 100,000 events with 20 diverse categories in nine markets in the region and around the world. The redesigned platform addresses this by making the discovery and booking of tickets a quicker and more convenient experience.

“The decision to rebrand the platform was driven by several factors, including the company’s expansion across the globe,” said Cosmin Ivan, CEO at Platinumlist. “This growth presented challenges, as the previous brand identity no longer fully reflected the global and diverse nature of the company’s offerings. The prior design was fragmented across different products, which sometimes made brand recognition more challenging for users and B2B partners.”

The new design addresses these issues with a fresh visual identity centered around the concept of a “portal.” This metaphor and identity concept, created in partnership with design studio Kidults, represents the platform as an entry point to new experiences and emotions. The redesigned interface features a cleaner, bolder visual system and improved UX patterns. The dark mode feature is currently in development to further enhance user experience in various lighting conditions, such as at concerts or cinemas.

“Platinumlist came to us with a bold ambition — to go beyond selling tickets and become a true cultural portal,” said Mike Shishkin, creative director at Kidultas. “It wasn’t just about a new look, but about rethinking the brand’s role, story, and the entire product experience. We worked closely with Platinumlist on brand strategy, visual identity, UI and content tools. And we’re proud to be a part of transforming ticket sales into inspiration.”

A significant aspect of the redesign is its focus on regional and cultural inclusivity. Platinumlist collaborated with Saudi and UAE-based type designers to develop a new Arabic typographic system and an adapted logo that aligns with the Latin version, creating a flexible and regionally inclusive design system.

Looking ahead, Platinumlist plans to continue its improvements, leveraging the new flexible design system to scale across different languages and markets, from Dubai to London.