The Entertainer makes huge loss as Reeves’ Budget forces job cuts
The Entertainer made a raft of redundancies as a result of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Autumn Budget as it fell into the red during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
Teal Group Holdings, which also includes Early Learning Centre and Addo Play, cut 41 jobs and withdraw 15 other roles which were being recruited for following the “unheralded” increase in employment costs after the Budget.
According to new accounts filed with Companies House, the owner of The Entertainer also made a pre-tax loss of £10m in the 12 months to 1 February, 2025.
The loss came after the group achieved a pre-tax profit of £6.6m in the prior year.
Over the same period, the group’s turnover increased from £238.2m to £286.5m.
Despite falling into the red, the Grant family paid themselves a dividend of £3m for the year, down from the £15.6m they received in the prior 12 months.
The Entertainer becomes employee owned
The results come after founder Gary Grant recently transferred 100 per cent of his ownership in Teal Group Holdings, which he held alongside his wife Catherine, to an employee ownership trust.
The move, which was completed in September, resulted in 1,900 workers owning The Entertainer, Early Learning Centre and Addo Play.
Grant opened his first store with his wife in 1981 when he was 23 and now heads up an empire which includes 160 shops across the UK.
As beneficiaries of the trust, employees will be rewarded through tax-free bonuses based on the amount of profit the business generates in the future.
Employees will also have influence over the future direction of the group.
A newly created Colleague Advisory Board will help shape policies, share sentiment and ideas and will have a representative that will sit on the three person trust board.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The year ending 1 February, 2025, saw significant investment for the group in the infrastructure of its businesses to enable the delivery of their growth strategies.”
The group added that it made a £10m pre-tax loss as the “result of the significant one-off investment in the group businesses infrastructure plus one-off costs relating to the closure of its loss-making Spanish business”.