The Irish company that runs the Brown Thomas and Arnotts department stores recorded like-for-like growth in revenues and profits in spite of a decline in sales of some luxury goods and a more “challenging” trading environment.
Latest accounts for Brown Thomas Arnotts Ltd show it made a pretax profit of just under €19 million on turnover of €319.3 million for the 48 weeks to last January 4th.
On a like-for-like basis, the company’s sales rose by 3 per cent while its operating profits were up 50 per cent.
The accounts also show the Irish retailer paid a €10 million dividend to its parent, Cambridge Retail Group Holding Ltd, after the year end. This was in addition to a €496,000 payment last year.
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Its revenue comprised €273.8 million in retail sales and €45.5 million in concession incomes. And the company paid tax of just under €1.5 million on its profits.
The accounts cover a shorter time frame than usual as the firm changed its year-end to align with that of its parent company, the Central Group.
Brown Thomas and Arnotts are part of the same retail group as Selfridges in the UK and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands.
Commenting on trading in the current financial year, Donald McDonald, chief executive of Brown Thomas Arnotts, told The Irish Times: “Trading has been a little more challenging but we’re still up on last year, which is quite satisfactory.
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“We are low digits [percentage] increase up on last year, 2-3 per cent up. The early part of 2024 was challenging, but we had record sales at Christmas time.
“We were close to 5 per cent up on that period and 40 per cent of our business is done in quarter four, with 25 per cent from mid November to the end of December.
“While we’re [currently] marginally up on this time last year, we still have Christmas to come and that’s the big period for us. It could all swing on that.”
Mr McDonald said sales at its Dundrum Town Centre store, which opened three-and-a-half years ago, have been “exceptional”, up 13 per cent on last year.
“We had a four-year payback on our initial €13.5 million investment in Dundrum and it has paid itself back in two years. It’s been a huge success,” he said.
Online sales, meanwhile, will break the €100 million barrier this year, in gross terms. “It’s about 16 per cent of our turnover this year and is the third biggest store after Brown Thomas and Arnotts,” he said.
“We put that [increase] down to the operational effectiveness we’ve put in place over the past two or three years.
“Ninety per cent of all our orders are now picked and ready for distribution within 24 hours. About 400,000 parcels will be distributed over the mid November to the end of December period.”
But sales of some luxury brands have softened this year, with visitor numbers from the United States and China down.
“Forty per cent of our tourism number would be US and we’re seeing a 4-5 per cent decline in that customer,” he said, saying that 20 per cent of sales at its flagship Grafton Street store would be tourist-related.
The headcount at Brown Thomas and Arnotts reduced to 1,459 last year from 1,534, while its total payroll costs amounted to €64.4 million. Directors’ remuneration was just under €1.5 million.
