Profits tumbled by over 90% at The Very Group as its sales stalled during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
The Speke-headquartered business has posted pre-tax profits of £4.6m for the 12 months to July 1, 2023, down from £63.9m. According to the group's annual report, its revenue remained static at £2.1bn.
Revenue for Very 海角视频 increased from £1.79bn to £1.82bn but fell for Very Ireland from £80.6m to £69.1m and from £277.2m to £253.8m for Littlewoods. During the year the average number of people employed by the group increased from 3,341 to 3,542. However, BusinessLive recently reported that the company had jobs at risk at its Merseyside head office.
READ MORE: The Very Group puts jobs at risk at Merseyside HQ
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In a statement released with the group's fourth quarter results, CEO Lionel Desclée said: "Despite challenging economic conditions, our adaptable business model has driven market-beating top-line growth, improved cash flow year-on-year, and our best-ever customer satisfaction score. It's down to the investments we made in pricing and our digital customer experience, our cost discipline, and the commitment of our people in serving families in the 海角视频 and Ireland.
In the year ahead, we will continue to deliver a combination of investment-led growth – with a clear focus on improving our digital customer experience – and diligent cost management. While the market will remain challenging, we’re confident our proven and resilient business model, which combines multicategory online retail with flexible ways to pay, will continue to deliver for our customers."
At the start of September, it was reported by the Financial Times that Lloyds Banking Group was in talks with the Barclay family and US private equity firm Carlyle over a takeover of The Very Group. The lender holds a guarantee in the overseas holding companies controlling the group that is linked to the distressed debt behind the Telegraph, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the discussions.
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Writing in the group's annual report, chairman Dirk Van Den Berghe said: "During FY23, our customers and our business have faced fresh challenges, but our people have continued to work tirelessly, bringing their passion and energy to serve our customers every day. I am pleased that with the amazing support of our people, our multi-category digital retail offer combined with our Very Pay platform has continued to deliver for the families we serve.
"This is evident in our resilient FY23 performance with record-breaking customer satisfaction, strong Very Finance results, and growing market share for our Very 海角视频 business. By investing in our customer proposition, and specifically along our strategic pillars of ease, choice and understanding, we have been therewith the right products at the right price during the past 12 months. And we will continue to invest, while maintaining discipline around costs, to ensure were main as relevant for our customers in the future as we have been throughout our long history."
He added: "The directors have considered recent press speculation around the financing of the wider shareholder group of which The Very Group is part. Following a thorough review supported by third parties, the directors believe the likelihood of the financing arrangements of the wider group impacting The Very Group business to be remote and do not impact conclusions regarding the going concern assumption.
"The headwinds faced by customer sand the industry across FY23 remain relevant as we turn toward FY24. However, we have a rich history demonstrating how our resilient business model can perform strongly even during previous challenging economic periods. With our business-wide transformation supporting a customer-led strategy to build the most trusted ecosystem for our families, we look to FY24with confidence."