Hobbs restructure hurts bottom line but sales rebounding on summerwear success

Bad news. A radical restructure saw UK women’s fashion retailer Hobbs see its losses in the year to January rise. Good news. Sales are rebounding on the success of its spring/summer offer.

A strategic review, led by chairman Phil Wrigley and new CEO Meg Lustman, resulted in a series of one-off costs that resulted in £15.6m pre-tax loss, up from a £14m loss last time.

Sales rose slightly to £116.5m in the year to January, from £115.4m a year ago, although sales have picked up with this year’s spring/summer range, the retailer said in its accounts filed at Companies House.

Hobbs closed five stores and four concessions, and wrote down the value of another six units. Other costs, including legal fees and head office redundancies hit over £0.82m.

Wrigley and Lustman are trying to turn Hobbs around for owner private equity firm 3i.

STAY UP TO DATE: You want the need-to-know news, right? Our journalists deliver a daily curation of the most important industry happenings. Sound good? Join WGSN.

Know what’s next. Become a WGSN member today to benefit from our daily trend intelligence, retail analytics, consumer insights and bespoke consultancy services.