Profits halved at Dunnes UK arm
Returns filed by Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd to the Companies House in the UK, show revenues at the group declined by 6.5% from £177.8m to £166.3m in the year to the end of Jan 28 this year. Pre-tax profits dropped by 53% from £26.2m to £12.3m.
The main factors behind the sharp drop in pre-tax profits were overhead expenses increasing from £43.4m to £47.3m and interest receivable dropping from £5.1m to £357,000.
The group’s gross margin dropped marginally last year.
Dunnes Stores operates 23 stores in Northern Ireland, six in England, and five stores in Scotland. Across the entire network, the group operates 155 stores that includes 116 in the Republic employing 16,000 people.
The accounts for the Newry-registered firm also show the firm paid dividends of £4.14m last year to Dublin-based parent, Dunnes Stores (Henry St).
This followed a dividend payout of £9.2m the previous year. The directors of Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd are Francis Dunne and Margaret Heffernan.
The accounts offer the only insight into the finances of the family-owned business as Dunnes Stores has unlimited status in Ireland and is not required to file annual accounts.
The numbers employed by Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd last year dropped by 343 or 14% from 2,342 to 1,999. Staff costs last year declined marginally from £20.83m to £20m. Accumulated profits at the Northern Ireland-based group last year stood at £297.7m.
The firm’s cost of sales last year reduced from £113.8m to £107.5m.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £4.9m.
The firm’s net assets last year stood at £297.7m. The group’s cash last year increased from £35.5m to £42m.
In the Republic, Dunnes Stores remains the second- biggest player in the Irish grocery sector behind Tesco.
According to the latest data from Kantar World-panel, Dunnes Stores’s market share slipped during the year, declining from 23.3% to 21.6% at the end of September.
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