Harvey Nichols accounts confirm losses, but negative number narrows as sales rise

Harvey Nichols — or more accurately, Broad Gain (UK) Limited — has filed its results for the year to last April at Companies House, confirming preliminary figures it issued last month.

Although it was the first year in a while in which it hadn’t been affected by Covid, it still recorded a loss.

The figures underlined the story going on behind the scenes that led to its CEO leaving last year, a key role that only saw a permanent replacement — Alexander McQueen’s Julia Goddard — announced last week.

The group operates seven stores in the UK, plus one in the Republic of Ireland and the UK based webstore, as well as its clutch of international stores.

It said that while it saw higher footfall that drove increased sales, cost increases and margin declines due to higher levels of discounting drove it to a loss before tax of £21.2 million, But admittedly, that was smaller than the loss of £30.4 million in the previous year.

Revenue during the year rose 13% from £191.6 million to £216.6 million, with the company saying trade was beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels. But as mentioned, the gross margin dropped, falling from 47.1% to 45.4%, and with higher finance expenses and more capital investment, its profitability was dented.

Manju Malhotra, who’d joined the firm in 1998 and had been appointed CEO in January 2021, resigned six months after the period that these results cover. 

The company didn’t update on how trading had gone post-period-end but we might assume from its key leadership change that it didn’t see a significant improvement.

Last month, the company had said it was cutting some jobs and late last year it said it was exiting its Landmark store in Hong Kong, but retaining its Pacific Place location.