Challenging year hits Monsoon and Accessorize with sales drop and losses

Adena Brands Limited, the parent company of Monsoon and Accessorize, has released its financial statements for the 53-week period ended August 31, 2024, revealing a challenging year marked by an 11 percent drop in group sales to 204.6 million pounds and a pre-exceptional EBITDA loss of 2.4 million pounds.

The company attributes these disappointing results to weak consumer demand, significant wage and cost inflation, and strategic realignments in underperforming areas. These areas included the Monsoon retail portfolio, the Monsoon childrenswear business, and key international markets such as Saudi Arabia, Italy, and Germany.

The report filed with the Companies House UK, highlights that while these actions impacted current year sales and profitability due to necessary investments and transitions, they are largely complete and are already yielding positive results in the current fiscal year, which began in September 2024. In the eight months of the current fiscal, which included Black Friday through Christmas and Ramadan trading periods, the company saw return to sales growth and profitability.

Despite the overall decline, Adena Brands' core UK Accessorize business and Monsoon Women's business, which collectively account for approximately 70 percent of sales, demonstrated continued strong performance. The company leveraged the strength of these core segments to absorb realignment costs, invest in brand development, and continue a multi-year upgrade of core technology systems, including a new warehouse management system.

During the period under review, the company opened 13 Accessorize stores and refitted four stores. For the Monsoon brand, new stores were opened to test broader future portfolios, notably a travel-focused format at Waterloo station, which serves as a template for higher-density locations, and new London Gatwick sites opened in early 2025. Several outlet locations were also established to support the full-price retail footprint.