Sweaty Betty losses widen in FY23 amid reorganisation

Athleisure retailer Sweaty Betty has published its accounts for the year to 31 December 2023, during which the company’s turnover took a significant hit, dropping by 23.5 million pounds, a 14 percent decrease on the year prior. This resulted in a turnover amounting to just under 144.3 million pounds.

The company noted that its performance in 2023 was impacted by a reorganisation of its subsidiary, removing Sweaty Betty’s North American wholesale operations from Sweaty Betty Limited, which filed its accounts with the UK’s Companies House.

This reshuffle did help to improve the company’s gross profit margin, which rose from 39.4 percent to 49.4 percent.

Excluding this, however, underlying performance was “slightly lower than 2022” the report noted, reflecting “the broader economic and socio-political environment”.

This was evidenced by widening losses at the firm, with operating loss increasing to 11 million pounds, up from 4.7 million pounds in the year prior. Its EBITDA also generated a loss of 6.4 million pounds, an increase on 2022’s loss of 130.868 pounds.

Gross profit, however, rose, climbing from 66 million pounds to 71.3 million pounds during the period.

The company, which is part of the Leisure Holdings Group, a subsidiary of the controlling party Wolverine World Wide, stated that economic conditions may deter customer spending, yet it was confident in the future development of stores, online sales and digital capabilities as key strategic areas.