Fashion firm Barbour saw revenues drop last year as pandemic lockdowns and cost and supply chain pressures impacted its financial performance.
South Shields-based J Barbour & Son Ltd, which trades under the brands Barbour, Barbour International and Barbour Beacon, has published accounts for the year ended April 30, showing a 10.2% drop in turnover from £242.8m to £218m.
Operating profit, however, rose 3% from £35.1m to £36.1m and pre-tax profit rose 1.4% from £35.8m to £36.3m and chair Dame Margaret Barbour said the company’s profitability and balance sheet remains strong, allowing Barbour to invest in the future.
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In the accounts, Dame Margaret said: “During the financial year 2020-21 revenues decreased by £24.8m. "This result, while a contraction on prior year, does show the strength and resilience of our brands relative to the weaker market performance, the trust that our customers and consumers place in them and the sustainability, in the broadest sense, of our business model and practices.
“The uncertainty and economic challenge presented by the global pandemic did also impact gross profit by £6.9m. With uncertainty across global markets very high and competition for dwindling demand intense, the marketplace was very difficult to navigate profitably without significant focus on appropriate cost reduction and investment in strong relationships across the end to end product life cycle.
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic the group balance sheet remains relatively strong, with cash held in the business reducing to £95.4m enabling us to focus on protecting customer service, our long-term objectives and partnerships, investing for the future sustainability of our brands and the trust in our business ethos.”
Following publication of the accounts, managing director Steve Buck said pandemic lockdowns and restrictions which began in 2020 and continued into 2021 had affected the business.
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He said: “Intense service and raw materials pressure throughout the global supply chain made retaining margin in all global markets difficult. However, costs were managed proactively enabling us to maintain profitability.”
Mr Buck highlighted Barbour’s work within the wider community, including work to support local NHS trusts by turning the South Shields factory over to make and donate 72,000 disposable PPE gowns.
The company’s charitable foundation also made a number of donations to contribute to the recovery of the region, including a £1m grant to The Sage Gateshead music centre.
A further £1m was also made to Newcastle University to support its academic work into vital areas including cancer, dementia, chronic diseases, infection and immunology, human genetics and neuroscience.
The Barbour Foundation, which supports charitable causes, health and scientific research programmes and women’s groups, primarily in the North East, receives its funding from the shareholders dividend, and since its inception has donated over £26m to charitable causes.
Mr Buck added: “The financial year 2021/22 sees unique challenges both in terms of their severity and nature with retail impacted by ongoing restrictions around the world and Brexit bringing significant additional costs and delays. As ever we will rely on the resilience of our brands and the hard work and skill of our teams worldwide to get us through this.”
During the year, North Shields musician Sam Fender also came on board to become the face of Barbour International.
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