Exclusive
By Ian McConnell
Business Editor
SCOTTISH outdoor clothing specialist Jacobs and Turner, the company behind the Trespass brand, more than quadrupled profits in its last financial year in spite of a dip in turnover.
Accounts filed with Companies House show Glasgow-based Jacobs and Turner, which is owned by brothers and directors Afzal and Akmal Khushi, made pre-tax profits of £9.71m in the year to June 27, 2021. The group’s pre-tax profits for the prior financial year were £2.23m.
READ MORE: New directorship for Baroness Ruth Davidson revealed in Companies House filing
The accounts also reveal Jacobs and Turner has secured benefits from negotiations with landlords on store rentals, which the directors note will help offset anticipated cost inflation.
Turnover dipped to £98.1m in the year to last June, from £102.6m in the prior 12 months.
READ MORE: Brexit: Tory MP’s red tape bellyaching beggars belief: Ian McConnell
Staff numbers averaged 1,708 in the year to last June, down from 1,935 in the prior 12 months, the accounts show.
The directors of Jacobs and Turner highlight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on trading during the year to last June, while also flagging government support received under programmes including the coronavirus job retention or furlough scheme.
They say: “The directors acknowledge that the 2021 financial performance was again curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in lockdown restrictions being imposed on the business. During this period the company has benefited from government support provided through various schemes, such as the coronavirus job retention scheme, grants received for closed retail stores, and business rates relief given to the retail sector.
“The directors have also used this time productively to negotiate with landlords on store rentals, the benefit of which together with supply chain optimisation and cost savings will help offset some of the future inflation cost increases expected.”
They add that the 4% decline in turnover was “mostly” because of the “impact of the pandemic”. And they flag a rise in profitability.
The directors say: “Consumer behaviour during the lockdowns and demand for the Trespass product has partially helped to mitigate the reduction in sales and improved gross margins are being seen in all divisions with gross profitability up slightly to 30.8% (2020: 29.3%).”
Gross profit was £30.26m in the year to last June, up marginally from £30.07m in the prior 12 months in spite of the 4% dip in turnover.
Administrative expenses fell to £19.02m in the year to last June, from £23.35m in the prior 12 months. And other operating income rose from £4.98m to £7.51m.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here