Frasers Group-owned Jack Wills has filed its results for the year to the end of April 2024 with the company hailing a “strong performance in terms of operating profit” despite the lower number of retail stores generating lower revenue.

But that doesn’t disguise the fact that there were some quite negative numbers in the report with the company pointing out that levels of profitability have declined primarily due to store closures. This resulted in falling sales and a decline in the gross profit margin with products being cut during closing-down sales. So profit both improved and declined.

So far so confusing, but let’s look at the actual figures. Revenue at the company fell to £19.1 million from £28.4 million largely due to the aforementioned lower number of stores during the year.

EBITDA on an underlying basis fell from a profit of £10.2 million to one of just £5.06 million. The net loss for the period was £31,000, compared to a net profit of £10 million the year before. The plunge came as pre-tax profit this time was £4.944 million but tax completely wiped that out with the company paying £4.975 million. This compared to only £114,000 in tax paid last year on a pre-tax profit of over £10 million.

The falling sales came, as mentioned, due to lower store numbers as the company operated only 24 stores during the year compared to 32 in the previous 12 months, with a total retail sales space of 42,000 sq ft, Down from 63,000 sq ft.

This also meant a headcount reduction with numbers falling from 233 to 135.

Jack Wills was bought out of administration by Frasers Group in 2019. 

Despite the business contraction in the latest year, its owner has been working on expansion internationally. Nearly two years ago it signed a deal with Brand Machine Group (BMG) for a long-term licensing partnership. The partnership would see the group design, manufacturer, wholesale and distribute all product types and categories for the brand globally from AW23.