Seasalt profits and sales soar amid portfolio expansion

Seasalt has seen its full-year profits and sales rise “markedly” as more bricks-and-mortar stores were added to its high street estate.The Cornish clothing brand saw turnover rise by 12% to £132.6m in the year ended 27 January, The Sunday Times reported. 

This was largely boosted by in-store sales, which rose by 10% over the period. 

Meanwhile, pre-tax profit hit £6.8m, up from £470,681 the prior year. The previous year’s profit margins had been hit by a “significant” rise in inbound freight and container rates.

Seasalt said its product margins had recovered in the latest year however, thanks to improvements in sourcing as well as inbound costs falling “back to more normal levels”. 

Its strong trading performance comes as Seasalt expanded its UK and Ireland store estate to 73 sites last year. This includes new locations in Aberdeen, Malvern in Worcestershire, Meadowhall in Sheffield, Trentham in Stoke-on-Trent, a pop-up in Plymouth, and its third Irish store in Kerry.

Online sales saw a “modest” growth as more shoppers returned to the high street, with customers spending “significantly more” per visit.

CEO Paul Hayes said: “Last year was a tough year for retail businesses, but we weathered the impact to evidence record-breaking revenue growth for the business in these statutory accounts.

“We’ve now got our focus firmly set on the future as the year ahead is a significant one for us, with the launch of our first Seasalt stores in North America.”