Boux Avenue and Ryman face ‘uncertainty’ over refinancing

Theo Paphitis Retail Group, the parent company of Boux Avenue, Ryman and Robert Dyas, has warned that some of its businesses face “material uncertainty” in the coming year, despite reporting a 5.5% growth in store sales in FY22. According to The Guardian, Ryman is struggling to refinance a £10m government-backed loan while Boux Avenue has net liabilities of £90m. Despite this, Paphitis told The Guardian: “I am not concerned. Either we will renew [the loan] or we will pay it back. I’m confident and happy to put my money where my mouth is.” Paphitis does not expect difficulties in extending the term, according to The Guardian, though he said that negotiations had largely been held up by a requirement for government approval to extend a CBIL. In the group’s latest results, total sales were level with 2021, with growth in stores across all brands as customers returned to stores following the pandemic. While store sales as a share of total business increased from 62.2% to 65.8%, there was a 9.7% fall in e-commerce over the period. Across the group, Robert Dyas reported a 5.3% growth with both stores and ecommerce delivering increases, while there was a 7.2% growth in Ryman stores and 1.8% growth in Boux Avenue stores. Boux Avenue turnover increased by 43.2% to £67.1m, while sales rose by 56.2% against pre-pandemic levels. Despite reporting an EBITDA loss of £0.3m, Paphitis said this was a “significant improvement” on previous years. Elsewhere, Ryman returned to profitability, as turnover rose by 40.8% to £102.8m, resulting in an EBITDA profit of £1.3m, up from a loss of £8.5m the prior year. Finally, Robert Dyas turnover rose by 34.4% to £164.6m, resulting in an EBITDA profit of £2.5m, up from a previous year loss of £700k. Chairman Theo Paphitis said: “We saw a recovery in turnover and profit across all of our brands in the financial year to March 2022, as our customers returned to stores and we were pleasantly surprised to see more of a swing to this channel than expected. “Although this seems to have been a market wide trend out of the pandemic, I also credit our colleagues serving our customers over the years for making our stores a retail destination for receiving both great products and service.” He added: “Whilst we expect the headwinds caused by the global economic and political environment to make 2023 another challenging year, we have seen through previous difficult trading periods that customers still respond to retailers providing the right products, convenience and service.”