Jacobson puts best foot forward after tough year
THE collapse of retail chain Famous Footwear last year pushed the Jacobson Group to an operating loss, according to the latest accounts for the business.
The Rawtenstall company behind the Gola, Dolcis Lonsdale and Lotus brands, and a major supplier of own-label shoes to multiple retailers, said the insolvency of the related business left it shouldering a bad debt of £3.2m.
This gave the group a full-year operating loss of £1.2m in the year to September 2012, compared to a profit of £4.3m last time.
Chairman Harvey Jacobson told TheBusinessDesk.com he was now implementing a three-pronged plan to improve performance.
Turnover during the year also slipped, down from £69.8m to £65.5m, which the group blamed on difficult trading conditions on the high street and the demise of several major accounts. After writing off the bad debt and taking into account interest charges, the group made a pre-tax profit of £1.5m, compared to £2.5m the previous year.
Despite the fall in profits and turnover, the group’s net assets and shareholders’ funds increased in the year, as a result or measures taken to repair the balance sheet. Net assets rose from £12.04m to £13m and shareholders’ funds from £12.1m to £13.1m.
In their report the directors said: “Trading since the year end has continued to be difficult in light of well publicised problems in the retail sector and it is not anticipated that there will be a significant improvement in results for the forthcoming year.”
The group is controlled by entrepreneur Harvey Jacobson and employs around 300 staff.
Mr Jacobson said he was expecting to see an improvement in results for 2014 as result of his plan to grow the group’s online, retail concession presence and international presence.
He said: “You can’t sit back and say: ‘We’ve always done it this way’ and refuse to change, you have to adapt to the market place. I accept we were a little slow to grasp the online opportunity, but we’re addressing that now.
“Internationally we’re launching Lotus in Germany and changing our US distributor for Gola from January 2014.
“While we have had a challenging year, I’m positive on our prospects for the future.”
