Turnbull & Asser: The King’s tailor who hasn’t made a profit since 2015
High-end fashion retailer Turnbull & Asser, whose customers including Kind Charles III, has now been in the red for almost a decade, it has been revealed.
The London-headquartered retailer, which has also supplied clothes for James Bond films, has racked up another pre-tax loss to extend its run without a profit to nine years.
Turnbull & Asser has been owned by Ali Fayed, the younger brother of Mohamed Al Fayed since 1986. Ali Al-Fayed resigned as a director in December 2024.
The business, which dates back to 1885, fell to a pre-tax loss of £1.37m in the 12 months to 29 January, 2024, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
The latest figure comes after Turnbull & Asser posted a loss of £1.25m for the prior year.
The last time the company achieved a pre-tax profit was the £165,000 it reported in the year ending January 2015.
Since then, Turnbull & Asser has racked up a total pre-tax loss of more than £9.2m.
The latest accounts, which had been due to be filed with Companies House by the end of October 2024, also show the firm’s turnover declined from £9.91m to £9.30m during the financial year.
The company’s turnover stood at £9.82m in the last financial year in which it made a pre-tax profit.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The year 2023 saw the interruption of any ‘sales’ appointment: an activity that no longer represents the identity and backbone of the enterprise and was actually draining ‘oxygen’ from the company’s turnover and its ability to face necessary investments to requalify the business and bring proactive efficiency to its core developments.
“This justifies the contraction in growth of turnover, which could not rely on biannual sales appointment (it is clear in units sold versus value of turnover), supported though by a very clear growth-oriented trend on the basis of values/numbers.”
Fayed sexual allegations
Earlier this month Ali Fayed, who is the only surviving brother of Mohamed Al Fayed, was accused by three former Harrods employees of sexually assaulting them while they were working for the department store.
The women said that the 82-year-old assaulted them in the 1990s when he and his brothers, Mohamed and Salah, owned and ran Harrods.
In a statement released earlier this month, a spokesman for Mr Fayed said he “will not be scapegoated” and he “unequivocally denies any and all the allegations of wrongdoing” and that “the incidents simply never took place”.