Dunnes Stores’ northern business enjoyed its most profitable year in a decade during 2023, new accounts filed with Companies House show.
The retailer’s Northern Ireland operation posted a pre-tax profit of £12.7 million for the year to December 29 2023, a three-fold increase on the £3.7m from 2022.
It followed a year where Dunnes racked up £185m at the tills, some £26m (17%) more than in 2022.
The £185m in revenue is the highest the retailer has recorded in the north since 2010, while last year’s profit was the best since 2014.
Costs also continued to rise last year, increasing by 12% to £142m.
The company paid a £2.9m tax bill last year, leaving it with a bottom line profit of £9.8m for 2023.
The accounts filed with Companies House also show Dunnes Stores significantly increased its northern workforce by 127 people in 2023, totalling 1,227 across its 15 Northern Ireland locations.
Staff costs increased 7% year-on-year to £19.2m.
The 2023 performance underpinned to a remarkable turnaround for the grocer, which has been hit by store closures and significant losses in recent years.
The Irish family-owned business closed seven stores in Northern Ireland between 2015 and 2019 and pulled out of England and Scotland during 2018.
The restructuring coincided with a period where Dunnes overhauled its fashion and homewares offering.
The retailer has also attracted strong footfall numbers through a ‘shop and save’ discount scheme, which has proved popular through the cost-of-living crisis.
The scheme rewards returning customers with a £5 discount for every £25 spent in store for their next grocery shop, up to a maximum saving of £20 off a £100 shop.
The latest annual accounts, which are filed in the north as Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd offer the only financial insight into the famously publicity-shy family owned retailer.
The Dunnes Holding Company, the parent entity for the grocery group, is not obliged to file accounts in the Republic.
In a brief commentary alongside the accounts, signed by Anne Heffernan on behalf of the directors, she said the retail industry remains “high competitive”, but added: “There are no plans materially to change the group’s activities in the future.”
A boilerplate statement from the directors added: “Dunnes Stores’ philosophy is summed up by better value.
“The board of directors believe that this philosophy underpins the success of the business in its first 80 years and it continues to guide us into the future.
“As a family company with generations of accumulated experience, we see things in the longer term and take our key business decisions accordingly.”
The accounts span the period where the family lost former director Ben Dunne, who died aged 74 after suffering a heart attack in Dubai in November 2023.
The Cork man was the son of the Rostrevor-born Ben Dunne, who founded Dunnes Stores in 1944.
