Victorian Plumbing to close Victoria Plum amid £2m loss
The wider business reported that revenues for FY24 increased by c.4% on the prior year and that adjusted EBITDA for FY24 is anticipated to be in line with market expectations, following robust consumer demand
Victorian Plumbing has announced it is to close the recently acquired Victoria Plum, after it incurred a £2m loss in just four months.
In a trading update for the trading for the year ended 30 September 2024, Victorian Plumbing said Victoria Plum contributed c.£15m of revenue and incurred an adjusted EBITDA loss of c.£2m in the period since acquisition.
The group has recently finalised a consultation process with Victoria Plum’s workforce and has taken the decision to close the business and its operations in Doncaster, which is expected to be completed by 31 December 2024.
The wider business reported that revenues for FY24 increased by c.4% on the prior year and that adjusted EBITDA for FY24 is anticipated to be in line with market expectations, following robust consumer demand.
It also revealed that the demand, together with the acquisition, have driven further market share gains and strong order volume growth of 10% versus FY23 (+3% like-for-like), with a record 1,021,000 orders delivered in the year (FY23: 932,000).
Victorian Plumbing added that customers are “responding well” to the group’s own brand proposition and have continued to trade away from third party brands into the group’s own brand range, resulting in an average order value reduction of c.5% versus FY23 (c.4% like-for-like). However, this has been more than offset by strong gross margin gains, which increased 300bps to 50% (FY23: 47%).
Mark Radcliffe, CEO of Victorian Plumbing, said: “I am pleased with the group’s performance in FY24 which has been a very busy year for Victorian Plumbing. We have increased profitability, as our higher margin own brand proposition continues to resonate with customers and consolidated our leading position as the UK’s number one bathroom retailer. At the same time, we have delivered a year of transformational change with significant investment in our people, technology and operations.
“Our state of the art new distribution centre is now operational and will remove previous capacity constraints, enabling us to serve customers more efficiently and execute on our strategic growth plans in our expansion categories and our trade proposition. Moreover, the recent decision to close Victoria Plum provides the group with a significant opportunity to accelerate growth and continue to further the investment in our brand and marketing.”