Penneys revenues dip as poor weather left trading 'flat' in 2024

Irish Examiner

6 hours ago

The firm which operates retailer Penneys recorded daily average pre-tax profits of more than €2m last year despite "flat" Irish revenues.
New accounts lodged by Primark Ltd show that the company's pre-tax profits more than doubled from from €416.63m to €881.5m in the 12 months to the end of September 14th last.
However, the impact of poor weather conditions during Summer 2024 contributed to revenues from Penney's Irish store network dipping marginally from €744.5m to €741.7m.
The €741.7m in revenues for the 52 weeks work out at the average weekly revenues of €14.26m for the 38-unit Irish strong network of Penneys stores.
The directors state that 'Irish store trading performance was flat in the current year with trade stronger in the first half of the year'. They state that 'trade in the second half of the year was impacted by adverse weather conditions. The opening of the Bray store in summer 2024 negated this somewhat," they said.
A spokesman for Primark said on Friday: 'In Ireland, we're continuing our multi-year €250m investment programme, including recent refurbishments of Penneys O'Connell Street in Dublin and Limerick city, with further store redevelopments planned in the coming months for stores in Portlaoise, Limerick, and Ennis.' The refurbished Penney's on Limerick's O'Connell Street was opened last week after an investment of €5m.
The accounts start that the €250m investment programme over the coming years will create an additional 1,000 jobs and increase selling space in Ireland by an estimated 20%.
The directors state that a new state-of-the-art distribution facility for Newbridge, Co Kildare represents an investment of €75m 'which is due within the next year'.
The directors state that the overall Irish investment 'reinforces the company's long term commitment to cities, towns and local communities across the country".
Overall, revenues at Primark last year increased by 5% from €3.91bn to €4.1bn and revenues were made up of €2.1bn of revenues from intercompany supplies of inventory; Primark Way franchise income of €1.25bn, and the remaining €741.7m from Irish retail revenues.
The Primark Way franchise is a business format which is developed and run from Ireland and provides Primark intellectual property, know-how, and services to Primark businesses overseas.
The Primark spokesman said: 'We had a positive year in 2023-2024 with increased turnover and profit due to strong trading across our key growth markets in Europe and the US as well as steady performance from our Irish stores and the addition of a new store in Bray.
'We continued to benefit from the relevance of our great-value clothing and the expansion of our product and category offering. It also reflects the success of our store rollout programme internationally with highlights including entering our 17th market of Hungary and opening our 450th store in Orlando, Florida."
The accounts disclose that the company paid out dividends of €809m. The company recorded a post tax profit of €771m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €109.9m.
Primark opened its first store in Dublin in 1969 under the name Penneys with the firm aiming to have 530 stores open globally by the end of 2026.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €86.53m and non-cash amortisation costs of €45.35m.
Numbers employed by the firm last year decreased slightly from 7,064 to 7,054 made up of 5,033 retail assistants, 595 retail managers and 1,426 'central'.
Staff costs increased from €300.19m to €319.03m. Directors last year received variable payroll amounts of €5.12m, €4.2m under long term incentive plans while €950,000 was also paid out for compensation for loss of office.
At the end of September 14th last, Primark Ltd's accumulated profits stood at €1.6bn.