Profits at The White Company doubled during the pandemic despite stores being shuttered for months on end.
The group, set up by entrepreneur Chrissie Rucker in 1994, made £31million in the year to July 2021 as shoppers snapped up scented candles, posh pyjamas and loungewear as they worked at home.
Turnover jumped by more than a fifth to £273million, according to accounts filed on Companies House, while online sales rose worldwide.
Profitable: The group made £31million in the year to July 2021 as shoppers snapped up scented candles, posh pyjamas and loungewear as they worked at home
By last summer, the homeware and clothing retailer had 50 stores and ten concessions.
But it was forced to shut its only US shop, which had never turned a profit.
Despite missing out on what it described as the ‘valuable lastminute Christmas rush’ because of tightening Covid restrictions in 2020, trading was so strong that the firm said it did not need to cut prices as much as normal during sales.
However, it said this success could make it difficult for revenues and profits to grow in the current year, as there had been a ‘set of circumstances that are unlikely to repeat themselves’.
Rucker, who has been dubbed ‘Britain’s Martha Stewart’, set up The White Company as a 12-page mail order catalogue in 1994.
It sells homeware and clothing, principally in white, from jumpers and blankets to candles and plates.
The 54-year-old businesswoman is married to Nicholas Wheeler, founder of the men’s shirt shop Charles Tyrwhitt.
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