Revenues surged at the Irish arm of furnishing giant, IKEA, last year to €190.89m as the business sold more goods online than in-store for the first time.
In 'a pivotal year' for IKEA Ireland Ltd, pre-tax profits increased marginally from €3.69m to €3.76m in the 12 months to the end of August last.
The directors state that "the business became more profitable, despite the challenges of 2021, with its sustained store closures and ongoing economic uncertainty".
The firm’s ‘bricks and mortar’ Ballymun flagship store was shut from the end of December 2020 to May 17th last year as part of a Government enforced Covid-19 retail shutdown and on re-opening day, the store was "the highest performing" of the group’s 378 stores across 30 countries.
The business recorded the increased profits on the back of online sales more than doubling from €42.39m to €99.26m.
During the firm's second Covid-19 pandemic hit year, the directors state that online sales accounted for 52% of sales compared to 24% in fiscal 2020 and 16% in fiscal 2019.
The directors state that the increase in online sales has accelerated the implementation of many of its transformational plans such as click and collect and the fulfilment of online orders from the store in order to create additional capacity to fulfil the online demand.
Revenues increased by 8% or €14.22m from €176.66m to €190.89m and the directors state that "we saw a huge appetite among our customers to upgrade their homes and make their homes increasingly multi-functional" with movement still restricted due to Covid 19 and many of the Irish population continuing to work from home.
The €190.89m - which equate to average weekly revenues of €3.67m - are not far off the pre-Covid 19 revenues of €203.53m in the 12 months to the end of August 2019.
The Irish unit last year paid out dividends of €3m and this followed a dividend paid out of €5m in fiscal 2020.
The business recorded operating profits of €4.479m and after taking into account net interest payments of €717,186, the firm recorded the pre-tax profit of €3.76m.
The firm recorded post tax profits of €3.23m after paying corporation tax of €522,274.
IKEA Ireland has expanded since year end with the opening of two Home Service Points (HSPs) at Naas in November 2021 and St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre in Dublin in February of this year.
The 'low cost' stores measure 70m2-100m2 each have a target revenues of €1.5m each year and the spend on each store "came in under budget".
The directors state that "the initial customer feedback has been very positive. Customers have suggested a bigger unit where they will be able to return items or pick and buy additional items".
The directors state that they believe that IKEA Ireland "is well positioned for continued growth within the country".
The directors’ report states that IKEA Ireland has the number one furniture market share at 11.7% and strong online share of 24% and second for market share in kitchens at 9.2%.
The directors also state that through its recently introduced buy-back and resell scheme, the firm has "bought back and resold around 470 pieces of furniture in Ireland".
Numbers employed by IKEA Ireland last year increased from 695 to 699 as staff costs increased marginally from €17.66m to €17.87m.
Directors' pay last year increased from €227,709 to €277,763.
The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.39m and operating lease charges of €898,661.
Shareholder funds totalled €29.5m that included accumulated profits of €24.5m. Cash funds totalled €956,795.
