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Joules FY14 profits leap 23 percent pushed by US and Germany

By Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez

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British fashion group Joules saw profits rise by 23 percent last year, largely helped by record sales in its bigger markets after the UK: the US and Germany. Besides, having the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge carrying one of their bags recently has added on to its appeal.

Joules has 99 stores and also sells through John Lewis and has reported profits before tax of 5.1 million pounds in the year to May 2014 on sales of 96.3 million pounds, that is up 21 percent, as highlighted by ‘This is Money’.

A big portion of this growth comes from the retailer’s favoured international markets: Germany and, to a largest extent, the US.

In fact, the British retailer has enjoyed a 44 percent jump in international sales for the 52 weeks to May 25, 2014, but said that overseas growth has risen to almost 80 percent in its current financial year to date. “We’ve been targeting two markets which have both done very well – the US and Germany.”

Besides, Joules’ e-commerce and catalogue sales rose 36 percent, driven by investment in its website and the roll-out of click-and-collect services in its stores. As reported by the ‘Sunday Mail’, Joules is said to be making “a real push” in the US having opened a showroom in New York. ”International is very important and we’ve done a lot of investment.”

Confident on keeping the figures this strong in the months to come, Joules now expects to reach 100 million pounds in sales this year.

Namesake founder Tom Joule summed up the strong performance saying: “I like to think we were one of the original multi-channel brands and have always taken every route to market very seriously.”

Joule and other directors at the retailer own 51 percent of the company the former founded by Joule 25 years ago. The rest of the company’s capital is managed by Lloyds Development Capital, the namesake bank’s private equity arm.

Joules