Leeds Group back on the road to recovery with Hemmers focus

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 23, 2023

It’s going to be a long road back to health for slimmed-down UK-based textile wholesaler Leeds Group. But its board said Monday it’s committed to returning its core German trading subsidiary — Hemmers — to profitability. Following its sister brand KMR’s insolvency last year, it can now “focus solely on achieving this goal”.

Hemmers’ retail subsidiary KMR, was placed into an insolvency process on 7 October 2022.

Moving on, unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2022 showed the group more than halved its pre-tax loss to £224,000 from £487,000 a year ago.

Group turnover for the period was in line with last year at a relatively flat £15.57 million and Hemmers’ turnover inched up to £12.68 million from £12.66 million a year ago and the company reduced its loss to £164,000 from £192,000.

“Trading is currently in line with forecast and the cost-cutting measures taken last year are providing a good platform on which to rebuild a profitable business”, management said.

Leeds Group endured a tough 2022, citing the conflict in Ukraine, the lingering effects of Covid-19 across Europe, together with “continuing uncertainty in global markets for deepening the impact on the German economy and affecting consumer confidence”.