Kurt Geiger has another strong year as sales and profit jump, US is key driver

Kurt Geiger has filed its accounts for the year to 1 February and they look impressive. The fast-growing premium footwear and accessories retailer has reported healthy increases almost across the board.

To start with, turnover increased to £372.8 million from £338.9 million and gross profit was up to £203.1 million from £186.5 million. That was despite the cost of sales and administrative expenses increasing.

The company’s operating profit rose to £23.4 million from £20.1 million and pre-tax profit increased to £32.38 million from £25.83 million. Net income for the year was £27 million, up from £24 million.

Needless to say, in year that was undeniably tough for the wider fashion sector, the business was justified in calling those figures “impressive”. And they came even though the total gross margin fell to 54.5% from 55% due to the divisional and brand sales mix and higher inflation pressures on supply chain costs.

Kurt Geiger said that the turnover and profit growth was marked by strong growth within its international business, across both its digital and wholesale channels, and particularly the North American market where it has a 100% owned American subsidiary.

It opened four standalone stores in the US across three states during the year and two further stores were in construction at the year-end, including its first outlet store there.

It also said that the powerful international growth was driven by its Kurt Geiger London brand across both footwear and accessories.

High-regarded CEO Neil Clifford said he was “delighted with the company’s achievements in the year with another year of double-digit growth in both turnover and EBITDA, with EBITDA being the highest in the company’s history and underpinned by growth in proprietary own brands and international markets”. He also called that international growth “a fantastic success” and said the company is looking to build on it through its store expansion in the US.

There’s no denying that the company has achieved standout success as it has expanded in America and it has become something of a celebrity favourite there. 

And while the period since its financial year ended has been challenging for any UK business exporting to North America, the company has remained active in that market. For instance, it opened its first door in Miami in April. It has also been launching high-profile marketing campaigns.

And of course, we can’t ignore the fact that just a couple of weeks after the period that these results cover ended it was announced that the company would be bought by Steve Madden for $360 million/£289 million. That purchase was partly about expanding Kurt Geiger’s presence even further in international markets and it will be interesting to see how that develops in the years ahead.