Waterstones’ Irish turnover doubled to €25.9m

BOOK seller Waterstones saw turnover at its Irish shops more than double in its past financial year.

According to accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office (CRO), the retailers’ turnover for the 12 months to April 24, 2004 rose to €25.5 million from €12.4m the previous year.

However, profits only barely increased to €1.4m as the company’s cost of sales rose in line with the turnover growth and administration expenses also grew.

Waterstones did not pay a dividend to its parent company, the British based music retailer HMV Group, but said that trading has continued its recent success.

At the end of the year, the Irish arm of the company had shareholders’ funds of almost €25m and cash in the bank of €1.1m.

During the financial year, the number of people employed by Waterstones fell from 136 to 121. The average annual salary per employee was just over €25,000. The company’s three directors saw their salary and fees rise from €66,000 to €196,000.

At HMV’s Irish outlets, profits slipped by 9% to €7.7m on turnover of €38m.

Ireland forms a small part of the company’s worldwide activities. HMV Group has more than 550 shops.

Music sales are the biggest contributor to group turnover, accounting for 40.5% of sales for the year to April 2004. Books, which comprise the vast majority of Waterstones sales, contributed 25% of group sales in the same period. Also in the same period, video accounted for 30% of group sales, with the rapidly growing DVD category representing 26% of total video sales.