Returned clothes and shipping delays force Boohoo to slash sales forecast

Shares plunge as exceptionally high' rate of customer returns linked to renewed popularity of dresses dents sales

The fast fashion group Boohoo has warned that full-year profits and sales will be lower than expected after being hit by more customers returning clothes, delivery disruptions and surging costs.

Shares in the online clothing retailer plunged 15% in response to its second warning in four months, despite its insistence that the current difficulties facing the business were mostly related to the pandemic and therefore transient in nature".