Discount retailer Homesaver booms during pandemic

Group doubled in size during first year of Covid-19 restrictions

A Homesavers discount store. Pretax profits at the group increased more than fourfold to €6.98m in 2020 at a time when revenues increased by 91.5% to €69.57m. Photograph: Facebook

The company behind discount retailer Homesavers almost doubled in size during the early part of the pandemic as revenues topped €69.57 million.

New consolidated accounts for Centz Retail Holdings Ltd show that pretax profits increased more than fourfold to €6.98 million in 2020 at a time when revenues increased by 91.5 per cent to €69.57 million.

Numbers employed by the group jumped from 420 to 523 during a year when only essential businesses were allowed to open at times during pandemic restrictions. Staff costs almost doubled from €3.2 million to €6.18 million.

The accounts – only signed off on June 14th – state that, since the end of 2020 the group has continued its expansion with the opening of new stores.

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The group recorded an operating profit of €7.32 million with interest payments of €344,096, bringing the pretax profit figure down to €6.98 million before corporation tax of almost €940,000.

Shareholder funds almost trebled during the year from €3.3 million to €9.34 million as the group’s cash funds rose from €7 million to €22.3 million.

The profit takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €3.16 million.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times