// Victoria Beckham sales down 16% to £35m in 2018
// Victoria, along with husband and former footballer David Beckham, have paid out £38m in dividends
// Victoria Beckham currently has over 400 stores worldwide
Victoria and David Beckham’s business Beckham Brand Holdings (BBH) has paid out £38 million to its owners, despite a near 90 per cent drop in profits last week, The Guardian reported.
The celebrity couple, along with their business partner Simon Fuller, paid themselves dividends of $21.5 million (£16.7 million) and £10.3 million in May this year, on top of £11.1 million in 2018, according to accounts for BBH published at Companies House on Friday.
In the year to December 31 2018, BBH saw pre-tax profits drop to £1.7 million, after turnover fell by 18 per cent to £45.8 million, thanks to the widening losses at the Spice Girl’s eponymous label, as well as the sale of a 51 per cent stake in Seven Global, which manages some of David’s corporate partnerships.
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The Beckhams, shareholder Fuller and private equity firm Neo Investment Partners injected £13.5 million into Victoria Beckham last year to keep it afloat.
Sales at the fashion retailer dropped 16 per cent to £35 million in 2018 while it recorded its 11th year of operating losses.
Victoria Beckham currently has more than 400 stores worldwide including two of its own stores in London and Hong Kong, and has racked up about £35 million of losses since it was founded in 2008.
It has been kept afloat by David’s holding company Seven Global with more than £8.4 million in loans, as well as a £4 million cash deposit used as security for Victoria Beckham’s bank loans.
The losses go against the company’s commitment to cutting costs by over £3 million, resulting in 20 redundancies and London head office relocation.
Victoria Beckham’s chief executive Paolo Riva was among those to depart from the company just after 10 months of serving.
The retailer now employs about 150 people, and has an annual wage bill of about £10 million.
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