Office: Shoe retailer doubles profit to over £100m
Profit at the group behind shoe retailer Office more than doubled to over £100m as it continued to open new stores and created hundreds of jobs.
The business, which also includes the Offspring brand, has posted a pre-tax profit of £102.4m for the 12 months to 30 June, 2024.
The future comes after the group reported a pre-tax profit of £47.7m for the prior financial year.
Office’s profit has been on the rise since it fell to a pre-tax loss of £131.9m in the year to June 2020 and £114m in the year before that.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show that the group’s revenue increased from £265.3m to £294.3m.
At the end of the financial year, the group operated 75 stores, up from 70, and 11 concessions across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
The average number of people employed by the group also rose from 1,617 to 1,830 in the year.
Office steps up store expansion plans
A statement signed off by the board said: “Trading conditions were much improved in the period under review.
“Although still negative, consumer confidence has improved steadily since the start of the period.
“However, consumer spending remained under pressure as a result of the fall in real disposable incomes that the UK has experienced since late 2021 combined with relatively high interest rates and modest economic growth.
“Despite the macro challenges, the branded fashion footwear sold by Office proved to be a resilient category and traded well throughout the period.
“The group continued to invest in its new store development and remodelling programme throughout the period, adding eight new stores to the portfolio, closing three and renovating, relocating and extending three further stores.
“The investment in stores has been a success as they have exceeded the group’s trading expectations and capital expenditure investment criteria.”
On its future, Office said: “Economic growth forecasts for the UK have been raised for 2025, with the retail sector expected to experience tailwinds from improving sentiment, age increases again outpacing inflation, the prospect of further interest rate relief and the sustained low inflation environment.
“Office will continue to leverage its strong relationships with the world’s leading footwear brands, its loyal customer base across the Office and Offspring brands and ongoing investment in digital marketing.
“Growth in the year ahead will be driven by a strong online presence and the expansion of the Office store portfolio through new store openings and the remodelling and extension of existing stores in strategic retail locations.”
Office was founded in 1981 and was acquired at the end of 2015 by South African clothing retailer Truworths.
The latest accounts for Office come after Morning Wire reported in November 2024 that rival Schuh had created almost 400 jobs in its latest financial year to push its headcount past where it was before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
The Scotland-headquartered footwear retailer’s turnover also increased from £354.4m to £380.8m while its pre-tax profit jumped from £13.4m to £21m.
In May 2024, Morning Wire also reported that Clarks fell to a loss of almost £40m in 2023 despite its revenue increasing to almost £1bn during the year.
The historic Somerset-headquartered company reported a pre-tax loss of £39.8m after making a pre-tax profit of £35.9m in the 48 weeks to the end of 2022.
However its revenue increased from £980.3m to £994.5m over the same period.