Highland Perthshire luxury shopping destination House of Bruar is well placed to withstand any post-Brexit economic downturn, according to one of its directors.
Patrick Birkbeck was commenting on the company’s turnover rising 2.8% to £24.4 million in the year to January, 2016.
Cost of sales were more than £1m higher at £13.1m and although pre-tax profit was down 23% at £3.6m, the directors were “very pleased with the performance of the business.
The House of Bruar claims to boast some of Britain’s finest produce, clothing and rural artwork, with items ranging from traditional Scottish tweed to cashmere jumpers and locally-sourced foodstuffs.
Mr Birkbeck stated: “The general state of the economy is a concern for luxury retailing, especially taking the Brexit vote into account, as it will lead to a contraction in the market.
“However, we believe we are well placed to withstand any market downturn as can be seen by our increase in turnover and maintained gross margins over the last three financial years.”
Significant effort had been invested over the last year to ensure stock is current and well-managed, he stated.
Income was mainly generated from counter sales and mail order, and a key indicator of the former was the number of visitors to the store.
The volume is measured daily by a counter on the car parks multiplied by an average of 2.57 people per car, and during the year to January the number of vehicles using the site increased by 3.5%.
Mr Birkbeck said the business continued to see the benefits of continually investing in infrastructure and the generation of the mail order database, with additional buildings at Ballinluig to cater for increased direct shopping.
The £3 billion dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness was an opportunity and a concern.
House of Bruar is sited just off a major junction on the trunk route, north of Blair Atholl.
Mr Birkbeck said they had made representations to the Scottish Parliament and local authorities which have been positively received.
“In our opinion the number of visitors to the area will increase enormously once the road is finished but the process and construction phase will cause problems,” he stated.
As a result, the direct shopping elements needed to be expanded, and the transfer of the core mail order fulfilment operations to Ballinluig would aid the progression to a multi-season mail order business.
Planning permission for an 80,000 square feet expansion of warehouse and distribution space at Ballinluig had been granted.
With staff numbers rising to 223, House of Bruar is a major employer in the area and contributor to the local economy.
