A group controlled by The Apprentice star Lord Alan Sugar has posted a record profit despite falling sales, it has been revealed.
Amshold Trading has reported a pre-tax profit of £10.8m for the 12 months to 30 September, 2024, up from the £8.4m it achieved in the prior period.
However, new accounts filed with Companies House also show its turnover declined from £28.4m to £27.1m.
Amshold has a variety of subsidiaries, such as Amscreen, which produces digital signage, and Amsprop, the unit through which Sugar holds his property investments.
The group said its turnover decreased by four per cent “due principally to the slightly fewer sales of the Waferlite products and income from media activities remained static”.
Despite posting a record profit, the company did not issue a dividend for the year, having paid out more than £6m in the prior 12 months.
‘Very pleasing results were delivered’
A statement signed off by the board said: “The year to 30 September, 2024, was busy, challenging and successful.
“Very pleasing results were delivered from a trading perspective.
“Record profits were produced on the back of very strong demand for our new range of Waferlite products and good cost control.”
The business added: “The group has been better placed than most companies in being able to respond to the supply chain issues experienced by many markets since the Covid pandemic, although these issues have now improved significantly in the last couple of years.”
Lord Alan Sugar’s business empire grows
The results come after City AM reported earlier this month that Lord Alan Sugar had sold his entire stake in an engineering and technology recruitment agency which he has backed for more than four years.
Hernshead Group was set up by Tom Johnson in 2019 who shortly afterwards persuaded Lord Sugar to invest despite him not going on hit BBC One show, The Apprentice.
Johnson has now taken full control of the Reading-base company and is planning to expand across Europe and North America.
City AM also reported in November 2024 that Lord Alan Sugar’s property empire returned to the black during its latest financial year after recovering from a huge loss.
Amshold Limited, the company which Lord Sugar holds his property investments, achieved a pre-tax profit of £932,000 for the 12 months to 30 June, 2024.
The figure came after the firm fell to a pre-tax loss of £29.1m in its prior 12 months.
The return to profit came despite the group’s turnover falling from £11.4m to £8.7m in the year.
In June last year, Lord Sugar formally invested in the company run by the winner of the latest series of The Apprentice.
Rachel Woolford triumphed over pie company chief Phil Turner in the final of the hit BBC One show which was screened in April 2024.
Lord Sugar’s Amsvest Limited then took a stake of up to 50 per cent in Woolford’s R Nation.
According to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, Lord Sugar is worth an estimated £1.082bn.
In March 2024, Lord Sugar bought back the rights to the name Amstrad, 17 years after selling it to Sky, for a new digital marketing firm led by his grandson.