LK Bennett profits hit £30m amid spike in eventwear sales
Premium fashion brand LK Bennett has announced its results for the year to January with both sales and profits leaping.
The company said it was its strongest year in over a decade and reported a turnover uplift to £49 million, up 30% on the prior year, with gross profit up 40% to over £30 million.
The margin also rose to 61.9%, while EBITDA of £4 million was a threefold rise and operating profit of £2.9 million was four times higher than the pervious 12 months.
The business benefited from the post-Covid return of weddings and other events like Royal Ascot which has boosted its dress category, with management saying the return of occasion dressing generated around £1 million in profit.
The retailer has also been opening new stores in Britain with its latest being in Cheltenham that opened last week. LK Bennett opened their London flagship store in New Bond Street in March. Additionally, it’s been upgrading existing stores and is expanding globally with a return to the US via wholesale this autumn.
CEO Darren Topp said: “We are delighted to announce another year of significant growth in profit for LK Bennett, our most successful year for over a decade.
“While we recognise that this was supported by a bounce back in sales post-Covid, the underlying business is stronger today as a result of the actions taken over the past four years, and I am very grateful to my colleagues for their contribution.”
The retailer was founded in the London suburb of Wimbledon in 1990 by Linda Bennett who sold a 70% stake to private equity for tens of millions in 2007.
