The retailer has announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 August 24, with strong growth in its travel business driving revenue and profit up.
The group profit before tax rose 16% to £166m while total group revenue was up 7% to £1.92bn. This is mainly driven by its booming travel division, with total revenue from travel growing 11% to £1.47bn.
High street delivered a performance in line with expectations with headline trading profit of £32m (2023: £32m), and revenue of £452m (2023: £469m). LFL revenue was down 2% on last year.
As the group continues to grow travel, the high street division will become a smaller part of the overall Group. This division now accounts for around 15% of full year group profit from trading operations. As at 31 August 2024, the high street business operated from 500 stores (2023: 514) which occupy 2.4m square feet (2023: 2.5m square feet). 14 stores were closed in the year (2023: 13).
Carl Cowling, group chief executive, commented: “The group has delivered an excellent performance throughout the year, particularly over the key summer trading period. Our travel divisions are trading well with a particularly strong performance from our UK Travel business, with trading profit up 20% to £122m. We are making excellent progress in the UK as we continue to benefit from the rollout of our one-stop-shop format which is creating significant opportunities to further grow profitability.
“Our most exciting opportunity for growth is in North America. We are very pleased to have recently won some significant new airport business, including wins at Dallas, Denver and Washington Dulles airports, and we are the preferred bidder for a further 15 stores across two major US airports. Our store opening programme is on track and we have a new store pipeline of c.60 stores already won.
“The new financial year has started well. While there is some economic uncertainty, we are confident that 2025 will be another year of good progress for the Group.”
