Hackett’s Re-Energize project pays off as sales and profits rise

Hackett’s accounts for the year to the end of last March show turnover at the high-end menswear business jumping 29.94% to reach £114 million, after £87.7 million the year before.

EBITDA was also up 35.58% at £5.5 million and net profit for the financial year rose to £5.3 million after a net loss of £1.6 million a year earlier.

The year was one that saw the company expanding its retail offer with the opening of one full-price store and no closures. Along with this came an overall retail sales increase of 46.6%, largely due to a return to pre-Covid conditions and as of the end of the fiscal period, the company operated 14 full-price directly-run stores in the UK and six outlets.

Wholesale strengthened as well with growth of 22.1%, while e-commerce was buoyant with a 27% increase in sales as visitor traffic to the company’s website rose 9%. Clearly, with traffic up by a lower number than sales, those who did go online were spending more and the company said its conversion rate was up 7%.

The year also saw the business working on boosting the brand via its Re-Energize Hackett project, which it said has proven successful. It included a new web design and a new logo with additional investment in communication.

It said it has created a “double positioning between the core HT London and a more elevated Savile Row collection”. That led to a change in terms of pricing, and assortment in terms of channels. Both Retail, particularly in full-price, and E-commerce, as mentioned above, “performed extremely well” with a very strong summer season and buoyancy from Black Friday to the Christmas 2022 period.

And the reshaping of the brand continues after the end of the period in question with November 2023 having seen a key store launch on new New Bond Street as well as its premium line launch. This was a significant development for the company and it mounted a publicity blitz around the store opening.

But smaller-scale launches have also been happening, such as the collaboration with David Gandy Wellwear that was also unveiled in November.