Mighty Ape managing director Robert McEwan talks to the Herald's Chris Keall about an error that saw users logged into each other's accounts. Video / Dean Purcell
ASX-listed online retailer Kogan has reported a full-year net loss of A$39.5 million ($43.7m) after writing down its acquisition of Mighty Ape by A$46.3m.
The Melbourne-based firm’s wider group achieved growth, but Mighty Ape suffered what the company called “severely impacted performance” following an October 2024 website upgrade gone wrongthat thumped its traffic.
Problems continued in May as an incident saw hundreds of Mighty Ape users logged in to each other’s accounts.
A Kogan investor presentation released today said “major issues” with Mighty Ape site stability “are resolved with minor bugs continuing to be addressed”.
Problems with wishlists, click and collect, presale functionality and marketing efficiency had been resolved as of late May.
Issues with inventory levels, due to a “missed peak sales season” were denoted as “in progress”, with a warning they would impact margins in the first half of FY2026.
Kogan bought Mighty Ape, based in Silverdale north of Auckland, for A$122m in 2020. The site’s founder, Simon Barton, and his immediate team stayed on until 2023.
The disastrous glitches that resulted in Mighty Ape swinging from its usual Christmas-quarter profit spike to a loss occurred after a “replatforming” to Kogan’s systems.
Problems with its website, as it shifted to the same platform as parent Kogan, caused Mighty Ape to miss its usual Christmas profit spike – and in fact swing to a loss for the period. Source / ASX presentation
The write-down was first announced in an August 18 ASX filing.
Kogan said the “one-off, non-cash impairment” was based on “longer than anticipated recovery from the platform challenges following the October website upgrade ... compounded by the recent challenging retail environment in New Zealand, marked by weak consumer confidence”.
The bad news was expected and founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan said underlying numbers were positive.
Kogan shares were up 1.24% to A$4.08 in early trading. The stock is down 15.9% for the year.
Excluding the Mighty Ape impairment, the firm made an adjusted net profit of A$14.9m versus its year-ago A$21m net loss.
"We take ownership for that and apologise," Mighty Ape managing director Robert McEwan says of the tech-glitch impact. The DHL operations veteran recently took the reins at the online retailer. Photo / Dean Purcell
“We delivered growth across all major revenue streams, expanded the Kogan community, and strengthened our balance sheet through disciplined execution,” Ruslan Kogan said.
“While Mighty Ape faced challenges during the year, including the impact of its platform migration and tough trading conditions in New Zealand, we have taken the prudent step of resetting the business. With these foundations now in place, we are confident Mighty Ape is on the path to recovery and long-term success.”
Within the Kogan Group, Australian site Kogan.com’s gross sales increased from A$661.2m in FY2024 to A$793.9m in FY2025, while Mighty Ape’s gross revenue fell from A$147.7m to A$137.0m over the same period.
Kogan.com adjusted ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased from A$32.6m to A$36.9m while Mighty Ape’s adjusted operating earnings swung from a A$7.4m profit to a A$0.1m loss.
DHL veteran Rob McEwan was recently named Mighty Ape’s new managing director.
McEwan told the Herald in June that, notwithstanding the serious issues with implementation, the upgrade had added many features from Kogan that would benefit customers and make the site more efficient, and that the new Marketplace feature let small retailers reach Mighty Ape’s large-scale audience.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
