Brown Thomas has busiest-ever trading month in December despite fallout from city-centre riot

The Brown Thomas department store on Grafton Street achieved record trading in December, despite the first two weeks of the month being slow in the wake of the Dublin riot, according to Donald McDonald, the chief executive of the Brown Thomas Arnotts group.

But sales at its sister store Arnotts were flat during what is a key trading month for fashion retailers, due to the continued fallout from the Dublin riot on November 23rd, which resulted in the store being looted of €25,000 worth of goods by rioters and between €80,000-€100,000 of damage to the store.

Mr McDonald estimated the post-riot impact on trading amounted to more than €2 million in lost sales as a result of shoppers avoiding the area in the days and weeks following the disturbances. “That impacted our numbers for the first couple of weeks in December but by the latter part of the month we were back to normal in Arnotts,” he said.

Mr McDonald was speaking to The Irish Times about its accounts for the year to the end of January 2023, which have just been filed. These show that revenue rose by 26 per cent to €319.2 million but some €6 million in once-off costs contributed towards it recording a pre-tax loss of €1.4 million compared with a profit in the previous year of just under €9 million.

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The costs comprised a €4 million writedown on software and €2 million in professional fees and other costs relating to the change of ownership in August 2022, when it was acquired by Cambridge Retail Group Holding Ltd. This entity was a joint venture between Thai conglomerate Central Group, and Signa Retail in Austria, led by Rene Benko.

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The accounts also show that the Irish retailer’s owners received a bid for the Brown Thomas Arnotts group in August 2023 but Mr McDonald said that the talks concluded without a deal being agreed. He declined to comment on the identity of the third-party bidder.

[ Brown Thomas Arnotts could have been sold for the second time in a year ]

In addition, the accounts show that the group’s five freehold properties were moved into a related property subsidiary as part of a sale and leaseback agreement that valued them at €552 million. Its flagship store in Grafton Street was valued at €117 million while Arnotts was valued at €78.3 million.

Mr McDonald said this was a technical move related to the security on the debt connected to its purchase by its parent group. The move has since been reversed, with the properties moved back into the operating entity, Brown Thomas Arnotts Ltd.

On current trading, Mr McDonald said revenues would be more than 4 per cent higher for the year to the end of January 2024 and that the group would be back in profit.

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