Clarks has slashed over 1,200 jobs as its sales plummeted by nearly £100m during its most recent financial year, it has been disclosed.
The shoe retailer, headquartered in Somerset, reported a revenue of £901.3m for 2024, a decrease from the £994.5m it achieved in 2023, as reported by .
Newly filed accounts with Companies House also reveal that Clarks' workforce dropped from 7,413 to 6,161 in the 12 months while it posted a pre-tax loss of £39.2m.
This latest deficit follows Clarks falling to a pre-tax loss of £39.8m in the previous 12 months.
The chain last reported a pre-tax profit when it posted a total of £35.9m for the 48 weeks to the end of 2022.
In its most recent accounts, Clarks stated that an impairment of £32.1m of right-of-use assets and store property plant and equipment "significantly impacted" its results.
It further added that its "focus is to return to sustainable sales growth combined with a cost-focused attitude to delivery healthy store profitability in 2025."
City AM exclusively revealed in April 2024 that Jon Ram, the chief executive of Clarks, had resigned after two years in the role.
Currently, Clarks is being led by an interim executive committee as a new CEO has not yet been appointed.
Clarks cuts costs to 'fix the foundations for our future'
A statement approved by the board said: "2024 was a year of transition within the business, as internal and external factors created a variety of challenges."
"Externally we were faced with challenging global market conditions."
"With a high number of major elections taking place in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, India, the European Union and several emerging markets, businesses and consumers faced uncertainty regarding potential shifts n trade policies, regulatory frameworks and fiscal strategies."
"This had a significant impact on the economy, driving volatility in financial markets, influencing investment decisions and shaping economic policies."
"Coming on the back of continuing major conflicts and inflationary pressures, this led to reduced consumer demand in 2024."
"FY24 has therefore been a year of tradition for the Clarks Group with cost rationalisation and reduction to fix the foundations for our future."
"Significant changes have been made to the operations in the year to right size the overhead cost for the current business size, refocus the marketing approach, reposition the product assortment and set up the business for recovery and sustainable profitable growth in 2025."
