Shares in Europe's largest dedicated online fashion retailer Zalando jumped on Thursday after it reported better-than-expected results due to a good start to the spring/summer season, the second quarter it has rushed out strong figures.

The company founded in 2008, which only moved into the black at the end of last year, said first-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding stock-based compensation costs, came to between 25 and 39 million euros ($27 to $42 million), compared with a year-earlier loss of 23 million.

That corresponds to an adjusted EBIT margin of 4-7 percent.

Zalando had said in February it expected that metric to be roughly on the same level as 2014's 3.7 percent. The company is due to report full first-quarter figures on May 12.

The Berlin-based firm also said sales rose to 635-648 million euros from 501 million a year earlier, an increase of 27 to 29 percent and well above the 20-25 percent rise it had predicted for the full year.

Zalando shares, which listed in Frankfurt last October at 21.50 euros, jumped 8.2 percent to a four-month high of 26.41 euros by 0712 GMT. Shares in its biggest investor, Kinnevik of Sweden, were up 1.6 percent.

Zalando management board member Rubin Ritter said the company was seeing strong growth momentum. "Especially the performance in March was very encouraging," he added.

The firm, which now ships 1,500 brands to customers in 15 countries, said last month it expects to increase its staff to about 10,000 by the end of 2015 from around 8,000 now, hiring particularly in the tech and logistics field.

€1 = $1.06/£0.72