Pottery manufacturer Emma Bridgewater has said significant improvements are being made to its financial performance after recording an operating loss of £4 million and a £6.2 million drop in turnover.
The company’s latest annual report, which has just been published by Companies House, shows pre-tax losses increased to £4.4 million from £1.4 million in the 12 months to 27 April 2024.
In the same time period, turnover decreased by 16 per cent from £37.8 million to £31.6 million.
The decline was primarily driven by reduced sales across eCommerce and wholesale channels, partially offset by growth in physical store performance.
Gross margin decreased from 38.9 per cent to 35.9 per cent during the same time period, thanks to increased promotional activity.
However, Stoke-on-Trent-based firm has said the first eight months of the 2024/25 financial year has been positive.
A strategic report reads: “The directors have implemented comprehensive measures to strengthen performance and position the business for future sustainable, profitable growth.
“Current performance for the first eight months of FY25 is aligned with management expectations and represents a significant improvement on FY24.”
Daily Focus has previously reported that the Emma Bridgewater workforce has been cut in recent years as production requirement decreased and with the factory also introducing periods of short-time working.
Its workforce dropped by 60 people – to 409 employees – during the report period. Most of the job losses were in the factory and retail side of the business.
The company appointed Iain Martin, once Managing Director of Moonpig.com, as Chief Executive Officer in January 2024, with the leadership team strengthened further in April 2024 with Mark Ross, formerly of boohoo and Under Armour, joining as Chief Financial Officer.
Business Growth Fund, the parent company’s private equity investors, demonstrated continued support through an additional investment of £2.2 million in May 2024 in the Group, providing capital to execute strategic initiatives.
These have included new logistics partnerships delivering projected like-for-like annual savings of £1 million.
