East Mids fancy dress firm reports 80% profits rise
A Lincolnshire fancy dress firm which has been trading for 122 years has reported an 80% increase in profits.
Profits at Smiffys, which is based in Gainsborough, came in at £3.4m for the year ending 31 December 2016 – up from £1.8m in 2015. This was despite a small drop in turnover to £54.2m. The firm’s latest available accounts say that it employed 233 people at the end of 2016.
A statement signed by Raymond Peckett, chairman, in the accounts reads: “Our revenue channels continue to evolve and change, keeping us at the front of the market.
“The whole Smiffys team worked incredibly hard in 2016, and I think them all; it’s our ONE TEAM outlook and ‘can-do’ attitude that keeps us at the front of our sector.”
Last year, Smiffys said it was looking to relocate its headquarters to the Netherlands after its expressed anxiety over the cost of hard Brexit.
Some 40% of Smiffys sales go to the European Union, and its managing director said the move was an act of prudence.
Elliot Peckett told The Independent newspaper: “The Government proclaim that they want to encourage Britain to export, but pursuing this hard Brexit approach has simply pulled the chair from beneath us and left us dangling. The simple answer is that we cannot afford to wait.
“During that time [the negotiating process], not only will Smiffys have lost valuable EU sales due to this uncertainty, as we are already experiencing, but we will have lost the opportunity to have acted to protect what are vital sales to our company.
