Ann Summers
November 20, 2024
Ann Summers has made a small number of its more than 1,000 employees redundant to reduce costs, while its family owners have put GBP 5 million of new funding into the loss-making business.
Up to 30 roles are understood to be affected, mainly in head office operations. Staff in the company's 80 stores are not affected.
"All retailers are under significant pressure with continuing high taxation and rising costs," said chief executive Maria Hollins. "We have ambitious plans for growth and are always looking at options to bolster the brand in both the UK and internationally, but we also need to ensure our cost base reflects the challenges of today's high street. As a result, we have taken action to reduce costs, which unfortunately included making a small number of colleagues redundant. This was not a decision we took lightly."
The GBP 5 million loan came from Green Street Holdings, an entity controlled by the Gold family and led by chair Vanessa Gold, who took the role after the 2023 death of her sister Jacqueline Gold.
The most recent accounts available show Ann Summers made a pre-tax loss of GBP 3.8 million in the year to July 1, 2023, down from a GBP 21.9 million loss the year before, on turnover up 4.5 percent to GBP 104.5 million.