// ProCook posts a £200,000 full-year loss
// CEO Daniel O’Neill says economic backdrop was one of the toughest experienced in his 27-year career
DTC kitchenware brand ProCook swung to a loss in its last financial year as sales plunged nearly 10%.
The retailer recorded a £200,000 loss in its year to 2 April, from a £9.5m profit the prior year, as it battled higher supply chain costs, which it said had now “largely unwound”.
ProCook said it had been a year of “significant trading uncertainty” and highlighted the “significant shift away from online sales”.
The weakened trading has continued into the first quarter of its current financial year, due to “the continued impact of inflation and further interest rate increases”.
In the three months to 26 June, sales were down 6.7% year on year, with a 7.9% drop in like-for-likes as the warm weather and soft homewares market hit sales.
Its online business was particularly hard hit over the quarter, with sales nosediving 18.8% year on year.
ProCook CEO and founder Daniel O’Neill said the economic backdrop was one of the toughest he had experienced in his 27-year career.
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“Our customers and colleagues have felt the squeeze on disposable incomes as inflation has soared upwards. We have faced challenging trading conditions before, and emerged stronger, more nimble, and more determined to press ahead with our mission to become the customers’ first choice for kitchenware,” he said.
The full-year sales fall was exacerbated by the brand coming off Amazon over the last two years. Sales dipped just 5%, when excluding the Amazon channel.
Despite like-for-like sales plummeting 10.7% over the year, ProCook pointed out this came against a particularly strong year in 2022. Like-for-likes have soared 112.2% against pre-pandemic levels.
ProCook opened three new stores over the year and upsized a further two.
Although the retailer said the outlook remains challenging, it still sees “clear opportunities ahead of us to attract more customers to the ProCook brand and grow our market share, by building a better business through developing our products, service and operating model”.
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