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Losses at the company that owns Selfridges and a number of other upmarket department stores more than doubled last year as higher finance costs offset a jump in sales to £1.6bn.
Cambridge Retail Group Holding, which is owned by Central Group, a family-business Thai investor, and by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, recorded a pre-tax loss of £340mn in the 53 weeks to 3 February 2024, from £126mn in the same period a year earlier.
The wider losses came despite revenue jumping by 95 per cent to £1.6bn, from £804mn, and partly reflected a surge in its finance bill, which includes interest paid on borrowings, to £206mn from £96mn, accounts filed at Companies House on Thursday showed.
Cambridge’s results are the latest to highlight a challenging period for premium brands as spending among affluent shoppers remains subdued. Estée Lauder, owner of Clinique and MAC Cosmetics, on Thursday cut its dividend and abandoned the group’s profit forecast.
The Selfridges owner also disclosed that it had cut 500 jobs in the period it was reporting on. It now employs about 7,300 staff across the group, which includes Selfridges in the UK, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands and the Brown Thomas and Arnotts brands in Ireland.
Central Group, owned by the Chirathivat family is the majority owner of the luxury retail chains. It first bought the portfolio with co-investor Signa Group from the billionaire Weston family for £4bn in 2021.
The partnership with Signa unravelled after property mogul René Benko’s empire ran into financial difficulties and subsequently collapsed last year.
Earlier this month Central struck a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to co-own the group, with the PIF owning 40 per cent of its operating and property companies.
In separate filings for Selfridges in the UK, which was founded in 1909 by US-born magnate Harry Gordon, losses widened slightly to £41.9mn during the same period, from £39.3mn, on revenue of £834mn.
Selfridges Group said it was “pleased” with its performance last year “which saw a million more visits to our stores”. It added that this year it was trading in line with expectations.
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