Theo Paphitis Retail Group (“The Group”)

Christmas & Financial Year End 2022 Trading Statement

Theo Paphitis Retail Group sees a resurgence in store performance and continues investment in stores and online. 
Headwinds expected to result in challenging times for retail in 2023.

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Comparing 2022 vs 2021

Total Group sales level with 2021, with growth in stores across all brands, performing particularly well in the ‘second half’ of the Christmas trading period, as customers returned to stores following the pandemic. 

Performance made up of +5.5% growth in stores and -9.7% in e-commerce.  Store sales as a share of total business increased from 62.2% to 65.8%.

Highlights include: 

• +5.3% growth in Robert Dyas with stores and ecommerce delivering increases. A strong finish to the campaign with December at + 13.4%.  
• 7.2% growth in Ryman stores. 
• 1.8% growth in Boux Avenue stores.  
• 23.1% overall growth in London Graphic Centre. 

Boux Avenue: Boux Avenue continued its improvement seen in the previous year with a 43.2% increase in turnover to £67.1m. This was also an increase on pre-pandemic sales of 56.2%. An EBITDA loss of only £0.3m, which is a significant improvement on previous years. 

Ryman: Ryman returned to profitability following the impact of the pandemic on its key customer groups and store locations. Growth in turnover of 40.8% to £102.8m resulted in an EBITDA profit of £1.3m (previous year loss of £8.5m a positive swing of £9.8m). 

Robert Dyas: Growth across both channels delivered an increase in turnover of 34.4% from £122.5m to £164.6m, resulting in an EBITDA profit of £2.5m (previous year EBITDA loss of £700k).

“There is no doubt that the resilience and creativity of retail has been significantly tested over the last 3 years. I am, therefore, pleased with how our brands and colleagues have responded to the challenges of the pandemic which was closely followed by other significant negative economic and political factors in 2022. 

We saw a recovery in turnover and profit across all of our brands in the financial year to March 2022, as our customers returned to stores and we were pleasantly surprised to see more of a swing to this channel than expected. Although this seems to have been a market wide trend out of the pandemic, I also credit our colleagues serving our customers over the years for making our stores a retail destination for receiving both great products and service. 

Whilst we expect the headwinds caused by the global economic and political environment to make 2023 another challenging year, we have seen through previous difficult trading periods that customers still respond to retailers providing the right products, convenience and service. It may well be argued that, with a combined history of 280 years, Ryman and Robert Dyas have experienced almost everything that can be thrown at business and retail! 

Through peak Robert Dyas performed particularly well, with a campaign focussed on cutting the cost-of-living resonating with our customers. Energy saving products like air fryers, portable heaters and heated airers led the way. 

Ryman has seen sales build throughout the year, helped as people returned to offices, schools and universities, seeing a recovery in our city centre stores in particular. New ranges extending into the art and crafts market have also performed well and will be developed further.

Whilst Boux Avenue has seen a volatile current year with online proving less resilient than its stores, we have continued to develop the business further. This is evidenced by the opening of two new stores in Derby and Reading with additional sites being considered for 2023 & 2024. We have also invested in automating our distribution centre to increase capacity and improve efficiency, to support growth plans." 

8 February 2023

For imagery or further information: Jess Littlewood, TPRG Communications Director, jesslittlewood@tprg.com