White Stuff back in profit as physical sales grow and e-sales hold up well

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 27, 2022

Lifestyle retailer White Stuff swung back to profitability in the year to the end of April, with EBITDA of £8.6 million compared to a loss of £3.4 million the year before.

That came as its total sales soared 41.8% to £133.6 million and its retail sales were up a hefty 128.4% to £62.2 million.

The change of fortunes is understandable given that in the prior year, its stores had been closed for long periods due to lockdowns and consumers weren’t in the mood for physical shopping even when they were allowed to go back in-store.

The retail sales expansion was also helped by new retail space with the two store closures during the year being more than countered by the opening of one new shop (in Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet) and 10 M&S concessions. It had 125 stores and 55 concessions in the UK at year end.

The company also saw ongoing online strength and although e-sales rose only 0.4% (to £61.3 million), to achieve any kind of increase in an environment in which physical stores were fully open again was impressive.

Like many other UK mid-market labels, it benefited in particular from third-party links with three key multibrand names, Next, John Lewis and M&S.

Total international sales through all channels rose 24% to £11.1m and accounted for 8.3% of total sales for the firm.

CEO Jo Jenkins hailed the “strong set of results” and said the figures reflect “the investments we have been making to modernise the business for our customers”.

The company has been quietly reinventing itself with a new logo and marketing and it saw an influx of new customers during the period so the transformation seems to be working.