The White Company reported rising profits despite the closure of its bricks-and-mortar stores during lockdown last year.
The home furnishings retailer recorded a group operating profit of £14.1m in the 52 weeks to August 31, 2020, up 4% year on year against a 70-week financial reporting period.
The White Company also reported 4% growth in turnover to £226.3m against a comparable 52-week period, despite a year of two halves in which the final five months were impacted by the pandemic.
The retailer said it was able to migrate a large portion of the lost store sales to online with only a slight decline felt in the second half of the year.
The company opened two new stores and two new concessions during the year, bringing the total number to 61 in the UK.
The retailer added that trading since August has also continued to be strong despite two further lockdowns, boosted by demand for homewares and gifting items.
Chief executive Mary Homer said: “The year has, without doubt, been extremely challenging, with a global pandemic that created many business situations that none of us have ever experienced before. In light of this, I am very pleased with our results, both from a turnover and profit perspective.
“I am extremely proud of the whole team, who have risen to all these challenges, working in an extremely agile way, and at pace, making very sound business decisions. Most importantly, these decisions have all been made keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do.
“Our strategy to make further strides with our international growth, digital transformation and IT infrastructure remains the same, and this is instrumental in ensuring we achieve future growth.
“Overall, as a business, we are in a strong position – trade during this current year has been positive and we are cautiously optimistic, albeit we know there are many challenges ahead for the economy and therefore the retail sector.”
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