Johnson Service Group swings into losses as pandemic hits revenues
Johnson Service Group, the Cheshire-based textiles provider, has sunk into losses due to the impact of Covid.
The company reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of £17m for the year to 31 December 2020.
That’s down from an adjusted pre-tax profit of £48.2m in the prior year.
The company reported revenues of £229.8m which is down from £350m in 2019.
Johnson said its workwear continued to operate and service customers throughout the various lockdowns and Tier restrictions. It reported a 12 per cent volume reduction in April 2020 which has steadily improved to a 6 per cent reduction in August and reached pre-COVID volumes in October.
Customer retention levels were 94% for the year.
Its Horeca sites, which cater the hotel, restaurant and catering sectors, were ‘mothballed’ where necessary or production and resourcing curtailed to match customer requirements as linen volumes fluctuated dramatically.
The company said it has also utilised the Coronavirus job retention scheme to enable continued employment.
Peter Egan, CEO of Johnson Service Group, said: “As anticipated, our 2020 results reflect the dramatic impact that COVID-19 has had on the Group, particularly within our HORECA division.
“However, the decisive actions taken have protected the future of the business, by shoring up the Group’s balance sheet whilst managing our laundry operations to ensure flexible quality service for our customers.
“We continue to take pro-active actions to adapt our operations to ensure the Group can thrive and have a strong platform from which we can scale up operations as higher levels of demand return.
“We would like to acknowledge the magnificent efforts of our employees and thank them for their continued support through these most unusual and challenging times.”
He added: “We will continue our strategy to invest in our plants in order to maintain our position as a well invested operator, delivering outstanding levels of service to our customers.
“This, combined with our existing scale, ability to flex costs and focus on operational excellence, makes us confident that we will be able to take advantage of growth opportunities as they arise and to increase returns to Shareholders over time.”
