The The English Court Group closed the 2021 financial year (ended February 28, 2022) with sales of 12,508 million euroswhich means a increase of 21.93% compared to the previous year and exceed the results of 2019. This improvement is determined by the successes in management, which has allowed us to recover the path of growth and return to profits despite all the difficulties that remained during 2021 due to the Covid .
One of the most important figures for the company this year has been that of the net profitwhere they have reached €120 million. The EBITDA has also stood out for reaching the €804 millionwhich means an increase of 756 million more than the previous year.
In the statement, the company highlights that “This positive evolution has been possible thanks to planning carried out in advance to guarantee stock availability, especially during the Christmas season, as well as efficient negotiation with suppliers, better planning of purchases, and limited exposure to acquisitions in Asia«. In 2020El Corte Inglés due to confinements and restrictions lost 2,945 million euros and closed the year with a positive EBITDA of 142 million euros.
Retail and fashion, the company’s recovery engines
The retail business has reached sales of 11.3 billionhighlighting above all the fashion area, whose growth stands at almost 49% compared to the 2020 financial year. Also noteworthy is the good behavior of the online salethat already it represents 12.3% of the total business volume of department stores.
Fashion has been another of the engines of recovery for El Corte Inglés, as it has achieved a sales figure of €4.09 billion (48.8% more than the previous year). Although the figure is very positive, it still does not exceed that of 2019, which was 4,967 million euros.
In the other sectors, growth has been much lower:
- Home and appliances, 11.3% more and have been above 1,302 million
- Culture and leisure with an increase of 11.5% and a turnover of 2,145 million.
- Feedingthe exceptional moment experienced by the sector in 2020 has been corrected, placing the sales volume at 2,648 million, which represents a slight decrease of 4.8%.
Remember that the company agreed with Grupo Mutua the sale of 8% of its capital for 555 million euros within the framework of an agreement that also includes the pact to go public before 2028. This will change the company’s direction and it is difficult to know which path it will take in the coming years or if it will follow the group’s strategic plan (launched before of the entry of Grupo Mutua) which focused on the development of new businesses such as logistics, mobile operator, energy marketer and security services.