Monsoon and Accessorize eye 20 new stores as fashion brands progress Covid recovery
The Monsoon and Accessorize group has said it is eyeing 20 new store openings this year, as the fashion group continues to recover from Covid.
In results published on Wednesday, the group revealed sales of £196m and EBITDA of £17.4m for the 12 months to 31 December 2021.
The firms were acquired by Adena Brands out of administration in 2020 and finished the 2021 calendar year debt-free, with £15m net cash.
Shopping frenzies including Black Friday saw digital sales grow 43 per cent in the 12 weeks to the end of December.
The group had been focusing on boosting its e-commerce strategy to reverse its fortunes and said digital sales now accounted for almost half of revenue.
The group now has 150 stores, after 11 new store openings in 2021, and is planning 20 more in the year to come.
Nick Stowe, CEO, said: “This has been a difficult year for everyone. But we have navigated the challenges in retail successfully and have been able to accelerate and go further with our turnaround than we expected.
“Our focus initially was just on saving Monsoon and Accessorize, two iconic brands; but we have been able to transform how we operate, refreshed our product, become more digital, opened new store formats, and become more agile as a team and business. Now that we have restructured and returned the business to profitability, we’re planning further growth with a solid foundation and renewed confidence.”