Virgin Experience Days remains confident despite sales and profits slipping

Virgin Experience Days is “confident of a strong year ahead” despite seeing its turnover and profits slip during its latest 12 months.

According to newly-filed accounts with Companies House, the business posted a turnover of £81.8m for the year to June 30, 2023, down from £86m.

Its pre-tax profits also fell from £10.5m to £8.3m over the same period.

However, Virgin Experience Days said it is “confident of a strong year ahead despite the continuing economic uncertainty”

A statement signed off by the board said: “The business has faced challenging economic conditions and consumer confidence levels over the last 12 months, but despite this, trading performance has been robust and broadly in line with expectations as the gross profit margin has increased 0.1 per cent during the year.

Headquartered in Buckinghamshire, Virgin Experience Days was launched in 1988 as Acorne Sports and uses the Virgin brand under licence.

It was taken over by Acorne in 2002 before Inflexion Private Equity led a buyout in 2017. Virgin Experience Gifts operates within the same business.

In July 2022, the group headed by Douglass Topco Limited, which Virgin Experience Days is a member, was acquired by Equistone Partners.

Virgin Experience Days said that as a result of the deal, its cash balances decreased by £12.6m after providing £13.3m to a group company in order to pay down external debt.

The business added that it expects to return to a “normalised level of working capital and operational cashflow” during the next financial year.

On its future outlook, Virgin Experience Days said: “As a result of the continued investment in our people, our technology and sourcing the best experiences available in the market, we are confident of a strong year ahead despite the continuing economic uncertainty.”

The accounts come after the business announced the appointment of Christoph Homann as its new CEO in July 2023.