Furnishings manufacturer, The Belfield Group, which includes the brands of Westbridge, Tetrad, Belfield Home & Leisure and Clinchplain, has reported a reduction in turnover as losses widened.

According to its latest filed accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023, total sales fell 13.8% to £112.6m from £130.7m in 2022. Pre-tax losses widened from £8.8m to £11m.

Stated within its report, the company said: “At the outset of 2023, the group undertook a comprehensive strategic review of the business, the outcome of which was a decision to embark on a new business transformation plan centred on people-first thinking, a renewed commitment to high quality design and product development, the provision of a much-enhanced customer experience, and a move to improved operational efficiency across all divisions.

“A number of new business improvement plans were launched – positively impacted in-year profitability by some £4.8m, or £7.3m on an annualised basis. The programme partially offset the negative impact of the market-led revenue decline. Overall, the group reported an operating loss of £2.8m compared to a loss of £1.4m.

“The group’s gross profit margin decreased from 22.8% to 21.9% during the year, principally as a result of competitive pricing pressure, albeit partially mitigated by margin savings,” – in relation to its business improvement plans.

In early 2024, the group secured new funding of £2m from shareholders to support its transformation plan as well as a new medium term debt funding structure from Virgin Money.

“In mid-March 2024, Marks and Spencer (M&S), an important customer to Westbridge, with a trading relationship going back over 35 years, decided to exit the bulky furniture market,” the group added. “As a result of this decision, M&S stopped taking orders on bulky furniture at the end of July 2024.

“In response, Westbridge acted quickly to secure new business from several major existing retail customers, the impact of which will be seen from the Autumn 2024 season onwards. These material changes to the profile of the Westbridge business necessitated an acceleration of the programme, centred on a restructuring programme that was completed in September 2024. This will bring the revenue breakeven for the group down to circa £80m by the year end 2024.”

Furthermore, the group secured additional funding during August 2024 of circa £3m to support its ongoing plan.

“The directors continue to pursue the business transformation plan,” the group added. “Despite the challenging trading environment, and the loss of the M&S business in 2024, the directors are confident that, post restructuring, and taking into account the positive impact of the 2023 and 2024 programmes, business profitability will improve significantly for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025.”

As for the brands, Westbridge reported a decline in sales by 10.1% to £61m from £67.9m year-on-year. Pre-tax losses amounted to £7.4m, widening from £6.3m. Tetrad saw revenues decrease 26.9% to £12.5m from £17.1m, while pre-tax losses stood at £1.7m, widening from a loss of £431,000. Belfield Leisure reported a decline in sales of 9.5% to £35.2m from £38.9m. Pre-tax profit resulted at £417,000, down from £1m.