Lacoste UK has filed its accounts for 2024 and they show revenue at the company jumping as it changed its distribution agreement for its branded footwear. Gross profit also rose, although the margin fell as a greater percentage of sales were sourced through wholesale.
The pop-up for Lacoste in Selfridges
Looking at the headline numbers, turnover for the 52 weeks at the French brand increased to £98.141 million. It had been £70.192 million in the previous year which had the advantage of being a 53-week period.
Gross profit increased to £37.677 million from £31 million and operating profit was £2.369 million, a swing from a £651,000 loss in the previous year. But it remained loss-making on a pre-tax basis, although the loss shrank to £1.393 million from £3.269 million. The net loss for the financial period was £1.55 million, again, much narrower than the £3.223 million loss of 2023.
The company said that revenues from the wholesale channel were substantially up – by 65.8% – driven primarily by the introduction of the brand’s footwear as a result of a sub-distribution agreement.
In December 2023 that agreement had been signed between Pentland Brands UK Distribution Limited (PBUKD) and Lacoste UK Limited (LUK), for the latter to become the new distributor of the brand’s footwear both in the UK and internationally from the SS 24 season. PBUKD earns a royalty from LUK and LUK will recharge to PBUKD the cost of services for operating the footwear business.
As we said, this deal provided a big boost for wholesale and the continued wholesale strategy is to target mid-tier and top-tier customers. This also helped to “premiumise the brand,” the company said.
However, retail revenue from its boutique and outlet stores fell 6.5% year on year due to several unprofitable store exits and declining footfall primarily associated with the current economic environment.
The company didn’t give any details of its 2025 performance, but it has been very active in the UK market and further afield so far this year.
Only last week it opened a Selfridges accessories pop-up and earlier in the summer it named a new global chief executive. It also appointed Adèle Exarchopoulos as brand ambassador. And in the spring, it invested to upgrade its only store in Scotland.
