Brown Thomas profit rises to €18.8 million

BROWN THOMAS saw its profits rise last year despite no growth in turnover.

According to documents filed with the Companies Registration Office, Brown Thomas made pre-tax profits of €18.8 million in the year to end February 2003, up from €17.8m a year earlier.

Turnover at the company, which owns shops in Cork, Galway, Limerick and its flagship Dublin outlet, was flat at €222m with €38m of sales coming from concessions.

The company will pay its owners a dividend of €3m for the year up from €2.5m in 2002. The accounts show Brown Thomas, which also owns A Wear, is very profitable with retained profits of €72.9m and shareholders funds of €89m.

The accounts show Brown Thomas made a profit of €1.5m on a property sale at nearby Clarendon Street in April. The wages and salary bill for the firm’s 834 employees came to €27m from €26m in 2002, giving an average salary of just over €32,000. Total staff costs for the 12 months rose to €30.9m.

The company’s directors received no fees during the year, but pension contributions nearly doubled to €107,159, while directors emoluments rose from just over €410,000 to €449,443. The accounts also disclose Brown Thomas gave its chief executive Paul Kelly an interest free loan of €635,000 during the year.