THE parent company for high street jewellery chain Argento has reported a £1.6 million pre-tax profit despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Strabane native Pete Boyle’s Denvir Holdings group includes both the income from his retail empire and his property business.
The company saw turnover fall by 17.5 per cent to £18.8m for the year ending June 30 2020, with three months of lockdown significantly eating into its revenues.
Despite the revenue hit, Denvir said it had implemented savings and government support, with pre-tax profits actually increasing more than five-fold to £1.6m.
The group managed to save around £1.2m from its annual wage bill with 70 fewer staff from last year’s results and £560,000 in furlough payments in the three months to June 30.
The average number of staff employed a
cross group companies last year was 306, down from 376.
Denvir also reported receiving £100,000 in business grant support schemes for the retail, hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors.
In a report summarising its performance last year, the directors said while the group companies were still operational throughout the period due to their online presence, there was a reduction in trading levels as a result of the virus.
“Cost cutting measures were put in place to address the closures, grants available availed of and several landlords offered rent concessions.
“Despite a difficult year of trading during the Covid-19 pandemic, the group experienced another successful year with key performance indicators.”
