Hush Homewear’s results for the year to late March 2025 show the company enduring another tough year after it had turned in disappointing  performances in previous periods. But there was good news in the accounts filing as well with improved profitability.

The women’s fashion and lifestyle brand operates its own webstore and concessions, mainly in the UK, and said that turnover fell to £45.1 million from £52.4 million, a fairly hefty 14% drop.

It blamed both the continued double-digit decline in the UK premium womenswear market and the company’s own strategic decision to prioritise full-price trading over short-term volume.

Its approach focused on tighter buy planning and improved stock management, reducing overall inventory levels by 5% and “driving a healthier full-price sales mix”. That meant the gross margin improved significantly, reaching 32%, up from 29.2% a year earlier. The company said this was evidence of its “progress towards a more profitable and brand-accretive trading model”.

But the company will still loss-making although its losses reduced this time. The operating loss narrowed to £4.2 million from £7.9 million. EBITDA also narrowed to a loss of £2.3 million from £5.1 million. The net loss was £4.1 million, better than the net loss of £7.7 million a year ago.

The company also underwent a capital restructure during the period, releasing certain debt obligations with further support provided by shareholders to help fund its growth initiatives.

And it strengthened its board in the past 18 months with the appointment of Philip Mountford (formerly of Hunkemoller, Moss and Verace) as its chair, while Jill Stanton (with experience at M&S, Gap and Nike) became a non-executive director, and Rebecca Scott was named CFO having had experience at Sephora/FeelUnique and Halfords.

Investment initiatives for the company included joining the Brands at M&S line-up just at the end of the reporting period. This may not have been much of a boon during the first few months given the well publicised cyberattack that crippled M&S’s online operations for several months. But it will clearly be a growth avenue for the future.

Meanwhile it opened four new concessions with two new partners to expand its physical footprint and put it in contact with more customers across the UK.

It also achieved certified B-Corp status in September 2024.

The company said that trading in the first six months of the latest financial year, which ends in March this year, has been broadly in line with its expectations. It has continued to focus on driving full-price sales and improving the gross margin. It said it has seen stronger self-through of new-season products across all channels and has strengthened customer acquisition and repeat rates.

It added that several local and international growth opportunities are under active review and it remains confident in its medium term potential.