Beaverbrooks sees profits fall despite ‘record’ turnover
The business has also continued to develop its teams across the UK, with hundreds of colleagues completing training courses across the year
Family-owned diamond, jewellery and watch retailer Beaverbrooks has announced record turnover of £228.6m from £225m despite seeing a drop in operating profits to £10.5m from £25.7m for the period between March 2023 to February 2024.
The group attributed the £3m increase in turnover to growing market share in a difficult economic landscape and the fall in profits to challenging trading, increased operating costs and significant levels of long-term investment.
However, the company has increased its investment in its store estate by 5% on the previous year, totalling over £15.3m. This included the refurbishment of seven Beaverbrooks stores, in addition to the opening of a second luxury Loupe boutique in Croydon and five mono-brand boutiques – bringing the total to 88 Beaverbrooks Group stores nationwide.
The retailer has also prioritised its culture of putting people first, with a Christmas bonus of a week’s extra pay and retaining its tradition of not opening on Boxing Day.
The business has also continued to develop its teams across the UK, with hundreds of colleagues completing training courses across the year.
Additionally, despite the retailer’s reduction in profit, it continues to make donations of over £2.34m through the Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust – the highest proportion of its annual profits donated to charitable causes to date.
Looking ahead, the group is further enhancing its portfolio in 2024/25 with significant long-term investment in store refurbishment and openings, and in its ecommerce function for online shoppers.
Anna Blackburn, managing director at Beaverbrooks, said: “Despite a challenging marketplace, we are very proud of what we’ve achieved by maintaining a long-term view on investment that gives us confidence moving forward. Central to our success is our hard-working and engaged teams across the country and I am so proud that we have stayed true to our company culture, coming together and working so hard. We also greatly appreciate the loyalty of our customers who have continued to shop with us to purchase diamonds, jewellery and luxury and designer watches.
“Staying true to our values by putting people first has always allowed us to emerge from difficult trading times stronger than ever, and we are committed to continuing this into the future. We know that 2024 has been a challenging year already, so it is more important than ever that we put profits back into optimising our business and investing in our people, product and infrastructure to ensure growth moving forward. We are as focused, optimistic and ambitious as ever and as the industry faces more turbulent times ahead, we have everything we can in place to drive profitability and grow.”
Mark Adlestone OBE, chairman at Beaverbrooks, added: “As a family-owned business, enriching lives and making positive changes to the world is in our DNA, and this is reflected in every decision we make as a company. I am very proud that we have been able to donate over £2.34m of profits to charities during these uncertain times, when they need it most. Remaining true to our culture and values, we will continue to invest in the business, our people and the communities we serve to futureproof the Beaverbrooks Group and its ongoing success.”
