Harrods passes £1bn mark as Qatari owners get £180m pay day despite falling profit
Sales jumped to £1bn at the company behind luxury department store Harrods during its latest financial year, but profit was slashed over the same period, it has been revealed.
The London icon posted a turnover 8.2 per cent higher for the year to 3 February, 2024, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House, compared to the prior 12 months.
The accounts also show that operating profit was cut by £35m to £168m over the same time.
Despite the cut to its profit, Harrods maintained its dividend of £180m to its Qatari owners, the same pay day it handed out in the prior 12 months.
The results for Harrods, which is owned by the investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, also includes a division serving private jets and sells goods to department stores overseas.
The company’s main retail business increased its headcount by 775 people during the year.
The results come amid an uptick for rival department store Harvey Nichols, whose sales passed £200m for the first time since the pandemic.
The last time Harvey Nichols reported a revenue of more than £200m was the £222.1m it reported for the year to March 28, 2020.
It last made a pre-tax profit in the year to March 30, 2019, when it posted a result of £2.6m.
Last week, Morning Wire reported that toy retailer Hamleys is hoping a new digital strategy will help turn around its falling sales after closing 40 loss-making stores last year.
The brand’s holding company reported a revenue of £51.4m for 2023, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House, down from the £56.6m it posted for 2022.
Over the same period, its pre-tax profit rose from £293,000 to £673,000.