Sales rise fails to stop Build-a-Bear Workshop entering the red

The UK arm of Build-a-Bear Workshop fell to a loss despite increasing its sales in its stores by 35 per cent, newly-filed accounts have revealed.

The company has published its delayed accounts for the 12 months to January 28, 2023, having been due to do so by the end of October last year.

The documents show Build-a-Bear Workshop UK made a pre-tax loss of £202,000 for the period, having posted a pre-tax profit of £899,000 in the year before.

However, its overall turnover increased from £37.6m to £45.8m over the same period.

Build-a-Bear Workshop UK accounts for the year to January 31, 2024, are scheduled to be filed with Companies House by the end of October this year.

Build-a-Bear Workshop’s retail sales increased from £27.8m to £37.1m but its online revenue fell from £9.5m to £8.4m. Royalty revenue rose from £189,000 to £253,000.

During the year the average number of people the company employed increased from 647 to 661.

By the end of the financial year, the business operated 36 retail stores in the UK.

A statement signed off by the board said: “Fiscal 2022 was the first fiscal year since 2019 where our UK and Ireland stores were not temporarily closed due to government Covid-19 restrictions.

“Fiscal 2022 retail sales increased by 22 per cent compared to 2021 driven by an increase of 35 per cent in store sales from our retail stores as our customers returned to shopping in physical stores, whilst there was a decline of 10.3 per cent in e-commerce sales.”

On its future, Build-a-Bear Workshop added: “The company is looking to expand… with emphasis on maximising the consumer base by expanding to gift givers and affinity consumers via stores and e-commerce.

‘The company will continue to monitor its estate to meet the changing consumer behaviours.

“This will involve taking advantage of lease re-gears tabled by landlords, closure of non-profitable stores and identifying opportunities or new stores (mainly on short term leases).

Build-a-Bear Workshop UK’s parent company is headquartered in Missouri, USA, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.