Christian Dior: UK sales and profit slashed despite demand for watches and jewellery
Sales and profit at the UK arm of Christian Dior have been slashed despite the uptick in demand for the luxury fashion brand’s watches and jewellery.
The London-based division’s revenue fell from £32.4m to £280m in the year while its pre-tax profit was also cut from £46.6m to £27.6m over the same period.
Its latest pre-tax profit figure also compares to the £60m it achieved in 2022.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show the average number of people Dior employed in the UK in 2024 fell from 484 to 439.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The directors expect the level of activity to be maintained compared to that of the previous year and we are expecting the year 2025 to be in line with 2024 in terms of profits.
“The company achieve[d] a solid performance despite an unfavourable global economic environment.
“The company navigated an uncertain environment with resilience, showcasing the strength of its strategy and the quality of its products, particularly in its women ready-to-wear division growing by two per cent and watches and jewellery division growing by five per cent.”
The wider group is headquartered in Paris and controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads up LVMH.
For the same financial year, Dior posted a revenue of €84.6bn (£73.9bn), down from the €86.1bn it achieved in 2023.
Its profit from recurring operations also declined from €22.7bn to €19.5bn.
For the first half of its current financial year, the group reported a revenue of €39.8bn, a fall of four per cent.
Its profit from recurring operations was also cut by 15 per cent to €9bn.
Dior suffers cyber attack
The results come after Dior became the subject of a cyber attack in May.
The company confirmed that there had been a data breach that compromised personal customer information, primarily in China.
While no financial or banking details were exposed, the database contained personally identifiable information such as names, gender, email and postal addresses, phone numbers or purchase history.
In a statement released at the time, Dior said: “We immediately took steps to contain this incident. The teams at Dior, supported by leading cyber security experts, continue to investigate and respond to the incident. We are notifying all the relevant regulatory authorities”.
The company added that it is in the process of informing affected customers and deeply regrets “any concern or inconvenience” caused.
Dior’s breach followed a string of high profile cyber incidents in the UK, including Marks and Spencer, Harrods and the Co-op.