The parent company of the best known retail names in Ireland, Brown Thomas and Arnotts, has posted record pretax profits of €8.94 million.
Accounts for Brown Thomas Arnotts Ltd show that the group returned to profit after revenue surged by €95.8 million, or 61 per cent, from €157.8 million to €253.6 million in the 12 months to January 29th this year.
The pretax profit of €8.9 million followed a rare pretax loss of €1.77 million in the previous year. The business was closed for 14 weeks in 2021 due to Covid restrictions and relied on online sales for revenue.
The accounts show the business received €8.3 million in Government Covid-19 wage subsidy support payments during the year. It received €6.1 million in Covid-19 wage subsidy payments in the previous year.
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A directors’ note with the accounts said a dividend of €300,000 was paid out in July 2021 and a further dividend of €800,000 was paid on May 20th of this year.
Brown Thomas Arnotts, which operates stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, was sold as part of the sale of the Selfridges group to Thai-headquartered Central Group and Austrian Signa Holding last December in a deal worth a reported €4.7 billion.
The accounts said future growth would be based on further investment in outlets and an expansion of its online offering.
The company is set up “for a long, profitable and sustainable future”, the accounts said and also noted that “the digital business continued to operate and grew significantly during this period”.
Numbers employed increased by 188 from 1,104 to 1,292, made up of 701 part-time and 591 full time.
Staff costs increased by €12.2 million from €34.85 million to €47.1 million.
The profit takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €17.2 million.
The group’s shareholder funds of €114.94 million include accumulated profits of €65.43 million. The group’s cash funds increased from €52.82 million to €64.15 million.
