Revenues at A&F Hollister double

The owners of US clothing labels, Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister have not taken long to convert the frenzy that greeted the opening of their Dublin stores into handsome profits.

New accounts filed with the Companies Office show the US- owned A&F Hollister Ireland Ltd recorded pre-tax profits last year of €457,063 as revenues almost doubled to €15.8m.

Ireland’s first Hollister store opened at the Dundrum Town Centre in Jul 2011 while the country’s first A&F& store opened at Dublin’s College Green on Nov 1 last year.

The accounts show that the firm’s pre-tax profit of €457,063 in the 12 months to the end of Feb 3, 2013, follows a pre-tax loss of €692,494 the previous year — a positive swing of €1.14m.

Revenues increased by 93% from €81.9m in 2011 to €15.8m or an average of more than €300,000 per week in 2012.

According to the directors’ report, the “increases with comparison to the prior year are due to the Abercrombie & Fitch store opening and a full year of operations for the Hollister store”.

The figures show that to fund the Irish operations in 2012, the firm received a €3m cash injection from its parent.

This resulted in the firm last year having shareholder funds of €7.1m. This included €3.94m in cash.

Last year’s profit reduced the firm’s accumulated losses to €407,586.

The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €402,804. The firm’s lease charges last year rose from €1.6m to €1.8m. The firm’s expansion last year resulted in almost a tripling of the workforce from 127 to 335 with 315 working on a part-time basis. Staff costs increased from €1.3m to €3m.

The accounts confirm handsome gross margins of 44% with a gross profit of €7m on the €15.8m revenues. Operating costs of €6.58m resulted in an operating profit of €445,890.