// Luxury designer label favoured by Princess Catherine recorded further losses
// Accountants warn that a “material uncertainty exists” on the company’s future
// News comes despite rise in sales and £1.8m funds raised from investors
Temperley London saw its annual losses widen in 2017 despite a sales increase and raising almost £1.8 million to fund a turnaround.
According to the luxury fashion label and retailer’s most recent financial accounts, pre-tax losses for the year ended December 31, 2017 widened to £1.7 million.
The losses came despite receiving a £1.78 million boost from investors, which was aimed at funding the brand’s turnaround scheme.
However, revenue for the same full-year period increased four per cent year-on-year to £11.3 million, and gross margins improved by six percentage points to 51 per cent.
Overseas markets made up 53 per cent of the British company’s sales, especially the US, Canada, United Arab Emirates, China and Hong Kong.
Despite this, auditors for Alice Temperley’s label – which she founded in 2000 and whose clothes are favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge – have issued a health warning for the company.
According to The Telegraph, accountants at RSM warned that Temperley London’s £1.4 million in operating losses and net liabilities “indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.
The company has been trying to turn itself around since losses plunged to £2.8 million in 2014.
In September last year Sally Hughes was appointed as the new chief executive.
The business said that it was now focused on building a “quality wholesale business” and it had the right “operational structure, personnel and trading plans in place to leverage the brand’s popularity in a competitive market”.
Temperley London trades directly to consumers via its online store, two standalone stores in the UK and two stores in the Middle East, as well as online concessions with Matchesfashion and Net-A-Porter.
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