Specsavers has scrapped the bumper dividend it has been handing to its billionaire owners despite its sales and profit growing during its latest financial year.
The chain has paid out £15m in each its last two financial years to founders Dame Mary Perkins and her husband Doug.
Over that time, Specsavers’ turnover has increased from £3.39bn to £3.98bn in its latest financial year to 28 February, 2025.
However, its pre-tax profit has fallen from £449.5m to £339.3m over the same two reporting periods.
Specsavers does not publish its full group accounts for Specsavers International Healthcare Limited due to being headquartered in Guernsey.
The only ones available are the results filed with Companies House which covers the vast majority of its operations.
The chain does publish an annual report with very limited financial figures which states its group turnover totalled £4.18bn in the 12 months to the end of February this year.
As well as the UK, Specsavers operates in the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and North America.
According to the accounts filed with Companies House, Specsavers increased its headcount in its latest financial year from 45,406 to 46,283.
Specsavers conscious of ‘potential headwinds’
A statement signed off by the board said: “The Specsavers executive board (SEB) has tracked the performance of the business closely throughout the year and are pleased with the overall results and remain confident in the ongoing performance of Specsavers.
“The core financial fundamentals in all our established businesses remain strong across Europe, Australia and New Zealand and continue to provide the platform for further investment across the wider group.”
It added: “The SEB are pleased with the continued growth of the business from a turnover and operating perspective.
“The SEB believe that this is a consequence of our commitment to continue to focus on offering all our customers high quality service and product at competitive prices that represent exceptional value.
“Whilst there has been a slight decline in our operating margin, given the wider macro-economic uncertainties that we face, as well as the continued inflationary pressures across all elements of the supply chain, the SEB view this as a positive outcome for the year.
“Our strong, financial performance means that the business remains well positioned to support our future growth ambitions and to deliver on our overall organisation purpose of changing lives through better sight and hearing.”
Specsavers added: “The business is conscious that whilst our financial performance remains strong, there are potential headwinds that need to be factors in to our business plans.
“In particular, movements in foreign exchange rates and inflation will continue to present both challenge and opportunity and our regional plans are constantly being reviewed and updated to respond to changing market forces.
“The SEB continues to uphold its previous commitment to absorb inflationary price increases where possible, and to avoid passing increased costs on to our customers, enabling us to continue to support them through these challenging economic times.”
Vision Express’ profit surges as sales rise
Separately, the latest accounts for Specsavers’ rival Vision Express have revealed the chain’s turnover and profit both jumped during its latest financial year.
According to new accounts filed with Companies House, the firm’s turnover increased from £384.5m to £429.7m in 2024.
The results also show its pre-tax profit went from £7.5m to £36.1m over the same period.
The profit it achieved in 2023 was the first time Vision Express had been in the black since 2016.
The Nottinghamshire-headquartered company operates more than 400 stores across the country and is owned by EssilorLuxottica.
EssilorLuxottica’s brands include Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Oakley.
In May, City AM reported that the owner of Ray-Ban had issued a warning over its performance this year after its UK sales and profit fell in 2024.
The UK arm of Luxottica Group said the increase in the cost of goods and services is expected to negatively impact its gross and operating profit this year.
The group added that the increase in employer’s National Insurance contribution to 15 per cent – which Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Autumn Budget – will “further put strain on an already high rate of labour cost inflation”.
The warning on its future performance came as it posted a turnover of £165.8m for 2024 in the UK, down from £168.1m in the prior year.
The group’s pre-tax profit also dipped from £7.4m to £6.7m in the 12 months.