The Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph newspaper, have blamed a big investment in online for another year of hefty losses at their Shop Direct, the group behind the Littlewoods, isme and Very brands.
Shop Direct suffered a £46 million hit to its bottom line from costs, including redundancy payments to about 400 staff, ramping up spending on its internet operation and closing a warehouse.
This resulted in the home shopping group, owned by Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay since 2002, posting a pre-tax loss of £57.7 million over the 12 months to June 30, although this was a 27% improvement on the previous year.
On Christmas trading, Shop Direct chief executive Alex Baldock said: “We are cautiously optimistic we will at least match last year’s strong performance.”
“For the second year in a row, we expect tablet computers to be among our best-selling performers.”
Sales inched up by 0.4% to £1.67 billion in the year to June. Boosted by booming sales from mobile devices, Shop Direct said that online now accounts for 80% of total revenues against 64% two years ago. It added that its Littlewoods fashion collection from celebrity Myleene Klass has become its “fastest-ever selling celebrity range”.
