Beaverbrooks invest in the high street in difficult conditions

Beaverbrooks Group has invested £9.5m in its high street in difficult market conditions between March 2024 and February 2025. 

Latest figures show the business saw a dip in in turnover and profit over the past financial year.

The family owned business achieved a group turnover of £217.3m, only three per cent below its last financial year. Operating profit dropped by 20 per cent to £8.6m, due to rising costs.

As part of the retailer’s investment into its estate, the year saw 11 significant refurbishments across key UK locations – including £2m in its Braehead store in Glasgow, £1.6m in its Bracknell store and a further £1.5m in Peterborough’s store.

It has also invested over £1.5m into modernising its eCommerce infrastructure which will deliver improvements in the digital shopping experience.

This focus on its estate has continued into this financial year with the recent opening of a new Harrogate store in April.

These projects were delivered despite reports of retail closures across UK high streets, including Beaverbrooks’ decision to close seven stores that were no longer commercially viable after a careful decision process.

With confidence in the future, The Beaverbrooks Group made £1.6m in charitable donations from profits through The Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust.

Including this most recent contribution, the retailer has reached a significant milestone of £25m in donations to charitable causes and organisations from its profits since the year 2000, in line with the business’s core purpose of enriching lives.

In addition, Beaverbrooks’ colleagues collectively volunteered 4,300 hours of their time during the last financial year to support community projects.

Also 45 per cent of Beaverbrooks’ people donated to charities through Payroll Giving – the company has received a Diamond Quality Award for Payroll Giving for the last seven years as a result of its high participation rate in the scheme.

Despite challenging conditions in the retail sector, the diamonds, jewellery and luxury watch retailer has continued to invest in delivering exceptional value and customer experience.

With over 100 years of luxury and diamonds expertise, the specialist has developed its extensive collection of diamond jewellery, with its exclusive Beyond Brilliance range performing ahead of projected targets.

Across its other ranges, investment in the Clover jewellery collection has proven successful, with the range remaining popular among shoppers throughout the year, including strong sales at Christmas.

The retailer has also invested in recruiting and retaining colleagues, as well as providing career development opportunities for team members.

This includes the launch of the biggest training initiative the retailer has rolled out in the last decade – a two-day sales manager training course designed to support store management with customer experience across its 83 locations.

Prioritising team engagement has seen the retailer receive three-star accreditation with Best Companies for world class people engagement. 

Anna Blackburn, managing director of The Beaverbrooks Group, said: “We are very  proud of the commitment, resilience and hard work shown by our teams across the UK to  deliver strong results in what was a very difficult year for the sector.

"Through the challenges, we have had to make some difficult decisions. However, we have stayed true to our values and purpose of enriching lives, leaving us in a strong position – growing our market share and still achieving results to be proud of.

“We have continued to donate from our profits to great causes through the Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust, something that has always been very important to us and our core purpose of enriching the lives of the communities we serve.

"Reaching a milestone of £25m in company profits being donated to charity since 2000 is something we are all incredibly proud of across the business.

 “We know that an amazing experience for shoppers is crucial, whether in store, online or over the phone.

"As a result, we have continued to invest significantly in our store estates, online experience, and developing our fantastic teams to provide exceptional customer service and expertise.

It is also more important than ever that we provide the best value, quality and choice for our customers when they come to us for diamonds, jewellery and luxury watches, so we have continued to develop our extensive range of products to ensure we offer nothing less.”

Mark Adlestone, chairman of The Beaverbrooks Group, said: “It’s been a tough year across the industry and I am very proud of the efforts that our colleagues have put in to achieve these results.

 “It is part of our DNA as a 106-year-old family-owned business to enrich lives through supporting charities and communities, so I am incredibly proud that we have reached such a significant milestone of donating £25m to charities since the year 2000.

"This couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work of our teams across the UK, not to mention their amazing efforts to raise money, make donations through payroll giving and giving so many hours of their time to volunteer to good causes.

 “Remaining true to our culture and values has always been an essential part of what makes us strong as a business.

"We will continue to invest in our people, our business and our communities so that we maintain our success and emerge from the turbulent times we face stronger than ever.”

Beaverbrooks Group has 83 stores and it appeared in the Family Business Feature in the July/August edition of Lancashire Business View.

For more information, visit www.beaverbrooks.co.uk