// Ann Summers boss said online team will help lingerie retailer return to profitability
// The retailer was affected in recent years by high rents and the dramatic shift to online
Ann Summers chief executive Jacqueline Gold has reportedly said the lingerie remains confident that its digital sales team will help it return to profitability.
The retailer was affected in recent years by high rents and the dramatic shift to online shopping as well as Brexit uncertainty.
Gold said retailers and landlords must “come together” to help each other as both have been through a tough time, The Telegraph reported.
READ MORE: “Men assume short women are not CEOs”, Ann Summers boss says
Gold has secured lower rents for most of her 87 stores and has been busy modernising the chain, with further plans to open more shops.
Ann Summers has taken advantage of the rise in online shopping by improving its website and working with social media influencers such as Maura Higgins.
The retailer said it has reduced its underlying loss to £7.2 million in the year to June 2020, compared to £11.3 million the previous year.
In 2019, it recorded a pre-tax loss of £14.4 million.
It expects to make a “meaningful return to profit” in 2021 thanks to a 9.3% increase in sales to £113.8 million during lockdowns.
“The financial burdens that are being put on us are getting harder and harder, there is no easing up at all. We desperately need the government to do something on business rates,” Gold said.
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