Oliver Bonas creates hundreds of jobs as new stores help sales surge

Oliver Bonas created almost 200 jobs as the opening of new stores helped its sales jump by over £20m during its latest financial year.

The Chessington-headquartered company has reported a turnover of £135.7m for 2023, up from the £115m it achieved in 2022.

Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its headcount increased from 1,357 to 1,553.

The retailer, which sells fashion, homeware, furniture and gifts, operates 84 stores in the UK and one in the Republic of Ireland.

During the year it opened seven new stores and upsized or relocated eight of its shops.

The firm’s UK turnover increased from £122.1m to £132.7m while its sales in the rest of Europe went from £2.40m to £2.45m.

The company’s turnover in the rest of the world nudged up from £521,470 to £547,232.

The accounts for Oliver Bonas also show that its pre-tax profits dipped from £9m to £8.6m in 2023.

Oliver Bonas ‘pleased despite the economic backdrop’

A statement signed off by the board said: “We entered 2023 with inflation at 10.5 per cent in the UK and an economy barely growing.

“Interest rates were increasing rapidly at the Bank of England struggled to tame the inflationary spike.

“Although inflation did fall throughout the year, interest rates had to rise to higher levels and the economy entered technical recession in the second half of the year.

“One bright spot was wage growth but overall the economic backdrop led to subdued discretionary consumer spending.

“We remain committed to our multichannel approach and were pleased that despite the economic backdrop, both stores and web achieved positive like-for-like sales growth.”