Superdrug stablemate Savers posts spike in profits

The value health and beauty business registered a 24.8% spike in pre-tax profit to £36.3m during the year to December 31, 2016, according to documents filed at Companies House.

AS Watson-owned Savers said total sales advanced 15% to £416.7m in the 53-week period compared to the prior year.

The retailer said revenue growth was driven by 45 new store openings throughout the year – 12 of which were conversions of former Superdrug sites – and a 6.9% uplift in like-for-likes within its older shops.

Savers shuttered five stores during the year and operated from 383 shops at the year end.

The business is pressing ahead with its strategy to focus on “providing competitively priced, high-quality brand name products” across the health, beauty and home categories.

Savers is also focusing on maintaining a “lean” cost base and said “tight control” during the year helped its operating margin edge up 0.9 percentage points.

The retailer admitted its senior management team were “reviewing their plans to enable cost pressures to be minimised” in the wake of last summer’s Brexit vote.

It said the referendum result had “created uncertainty regarding future consumer sentiment and demand” and forced a number of its suppliers to increase their prices.

However, Savers insisted it was “planning strategies to mitigate the impact of inflation” and remained “well positioned to grow successfully in 2017 and beyond”.