Monsoon owner reduces losses but axes hundreds of jobs

Monsoon and Accessorize’s parent company reduced its pre-tax losses last year but axed hundreds of jobs and swathes of stores.

Drillgreat reported pre-tax losses of £10.5 million in the year to August 26, dropping from £17.9 million in 2016, with sales remaining flat at £424 million.

This comes after Drillgreat opted to separate Monsoon and Accessorize into individual retail fascias, closing around 140 stores with the joint branding.

According to filings on Companies House, Accessorize performed best out of the pair, seeing pre-tax earnings of £13.3 million on £160 million turnover.

Monsoon conversely made pre-tax earnings of £6.9 million on sales of around £300 million.

Separate filings for Accessorize showed the brand to be the more profitable of the two.

Despite bringing in £160 million in turnover, just over half what Monsoon made, Accessorize reported underlying pre-tax earnings of £13.3 million compared to Monsoon’s £6.9 million.

Over the year, Drillgreat saw its staff numbers drop 12 per cent to 2737, including 100 administration roles and over 250 instore roles as 18 stores were scrapped.

GlobalData’s retail analyst Charlotte Pearce said: “While Monsoon Accessorize has been steadily cutting down its store portfolio over the past two years, it is likely to be trapped in some long-term leases.

“It must continue to take the opportunity to close stores as and when leases end, and focus on its stores in high footfall areas, such as super malls, train stations and airports.”

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