Pamela Scott business records €4.5m profit after owner forgives €2.7m loan
Gordon Deegan
Pamela Scott firm, Flairline Fashions last year recorded pre-tax profits of €4.5 million.
New accounts filed by ladies fashion retail firm, Flairline Fashions Ltd shows that the business recorded the profits largely as a result of the owner of Pamela Scott, Sean Barron writing off a €2.7 million loan owed to him by the company.
The pre-tax profit of €4.5m in the 12 months to the end of August last followed a pre-tax loss of €235,069 in the prior year.
As the business recovered from the Covid-19 impact, the company’s revenues totalled €10.17 million in the 12 months to the end of August last - a 16 per cent increase on the revenues of €8.74 million recorded in the prior year.
The loan write off of €2.7 million was included in exceptional items totalling €3.5 million and the other items included a reversal of provisions concerning liquidated subsidiaries amounting to €488,703 and a reversal of prior year provisions of €310,287.
The business’s profit and loss account also benefited from "other operating income" of €1.86 million - largely made up of Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme payments of €1.46 million.
The "other operating income" items includes a Covid-19 commercial rates abatement of €200,968, Government grants of €147,786 and €24,841 under the Covid-19 online retail scheme.
The "other operating income’"also included €22,422 concerning "insurance claim received".
High street operations
On the general performance of the business, the directors state that the group’s high street operations “were closed for a significant portion of the year” due to Covid-19.
The directors state that the group’s online retailing offering “traded well” in the financial year and “online turnover increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The directors state that the group has increased investment in its online sales platform “and will continue to invest in its online services to better fulfil customer demand”.
The directors state that the group is seeking to increase its market share of the e-commerce marketplace and to increase further growth and profitability in this service offering.
The directors state that the group has returned to full operational full operating capacity in 2022 and there has been no further material disruption owing to the pandemic.
However, the directors add that following the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, the group has faced supply chain disruptions and inflationary cost pressures on materials and utilities.
Numbers employed at the business last year declined from 98 to 92 as staff costs increased from €2.05 million to €2.7 million. Directors’ pay increased from €140,945 to €431,493.
