The Icelandic-owned women's fashion chains Oasis and Coast made profits of almost €6 million in Ireland in the year to January, new filings reveal.
With the busiest shopping season of the year in full swing, accounts just filed for Mosaic Fashions Ireland Ltd show that the company had pretax profits of €5.9 million on a turnover of €32.8 million.
The turnover sum for the 19 Oasis and nine Coast outlets in Ireland excludes value-added tax.
Business last year at five Karen Millen and three Whistles outlets in Ireland is not included in the figures. These outlets are in the Mosaic group but their performance features in separate figures.
Mosaic Fashions said on May 30th in the prospectus for its flotation on the Icelandic stock exchange that the turnover for all its Irish outlets in the same period was £25 million (€36.93 million). The difference between the prospectus turnover figure and the sum in the Mosaic Fashions Ireland accounts implies that Karen Millen and Whistle had sales in the region of €4.13 million.
Mosaic positions its brands in the upper-middle market at different price points. The group has made rapid inroads in the Irish market with outlets in each of the major cities and many of the big towns.
The latest figures are the first to reveal the extent of Mosaic's profitability in Ireland, as no profit figure was provided in its flotation prospectus. The group was formed in November 2003 at the time of a management buyout at Sierra Holdings, owner of Oasis and Coast. The Karen Millen and Whistles chains were acquired last year.
The Mosaic Fashions Ireland figures for the previous accounting period are not strictly comparable, as they reflect business in the 17 months to January 2004. The company had pretax profits of €6.2 million in that period and a turnover of €37.1 million. However, these figures imply that the Oasis and Coast are growing strongly as the stores did almost as much business in the following 12 months.
Following its flotation last summer, Mosaic Fashions is still 36 per cent-owned by the Icelandic retail investment specialist Baugur. Mosaic reports third quarter results next Wednesday. But a 17 per cent rise in first-half sales to £194.6 million suggests the group has been relatively untouched by the retail downturn in Britain, where most of its stores are based.
