Covid dents Tory Burch UK as sales plummet

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 13, 2021

Tory Burch UK has filed its results for the year to January 2021 and the business saw a devastating fall in sales from £24.96 million in 2019 down to just £10.02 million in 2020.

The company has four UK stores and two in Germany (including an outlet store in each market) and both of those countries had quite strict Covid regulations during the financial period these results cover. In the UK, for instance, there were two major lockdowns covering multiple months in which non-essential stores kept their doors firmly closed. But restrictions on socialising, holidays and special occasions would also have dented sales from the label even when the stores were allowed to open. The brand has a heavy focus on occasion and vacation dressing that would have fallen flat during the loungewear-focused year.

It all meant that the company made a net loss of £852,612, wider than the loss of £654,250 from the previous financial year. The operating loss was just over £925,000 compared to an operating profit of almost £609,000 in the previous year

But the firm said that its parent company, Tory Burch LLC, "has provided a letter of support in which the company commits to support the group financially”. In the event of operating losses the parent company will provide the support to ensure its continued operation.

2020 was clearly a difficult year for the business and would have been a disappointing one too as it came after the company had seen sales growth of more than 3% in the previous year. The sales decline of almost 60% this time was unavoidable given the pandemic and the radical change in consumer shopping patterns.

Despite its Covid woes, the parent company continues to expand internationally. In the last year it opened its first Melbourne boutique, and its first Indian store (in New Delhi) under its deal with Reliance Brands. And in the summer, it opened a new flagship in New York on Mercer Street.