The boutique bakery and coffee chain saw turnover fall in 2020 because of Covid-19 trading restrictions – but pre-tax profits rise after successful supermarket partnerships and the introduction of delivery
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Gail's has 77 stores in London and the south of England | Photo credit: via Shutterstock
Supermarket partnerships and delivery helped Gail’s weather Covid-19 trading restrictions and temporary store closures in 2020.
Reporting its financial results for the 12 months to 28 February 2021, Gail’s parent company, Bread Holdings, said group turnover fell 27% to £84.5m compared with £116.4m in the previous year.
While Gail’s saw turnover fall to £57.1m compared to £61m in the year previous, group pre-tax profit increased to £4.4m, compared to £3.5m earned in the previous year. Bread Holdings attributed the fall in turnover to Covid-19 trading restrictions but said growth in its retail channel, including major supermarket partnerships and delivery, had boosted profits.
‘The group proved resilient with trading improving progressively throughout the year in part by the wholesale business growing its retail channel (including with several large supermarket chains and the burgeoning consumer delivery operators); and by adaptations in the Gail’s offer further aided by five successful new site openings in the year,” the company wrote.
The results were signed off prior to US investment firm Bain Capital Credit
taking a controlling stake in Gail’s in a deal that valued the London-based chain at around £200m ($277m).
The investment signalled a significant vote of confidence in Gail’s, which has continued to expand throughout the pandemic and now operates 77 stores in London and the south of England.
With UK trading restrictions largely lifted in the second half of 2021, the chain looks set for a significantly improved 12 months of trading.