REVENUES AT THE UK arm of the Smyths Toys family retail business last year increased by 2% to a record £953.5m (€1.09bn).

New accounts filed by the Galway headquartered Smyths Toys UK Ltd shows that pre-tax profits increased slightly from £18.4m to £18.5m on the back of bumper sales of best-sellers, Lego, Nerf Guns, Paw Patrol, Disney’s Lilo and Stitch and Despicable Me 4’s The Ultimate Fart Blaster.

The Smyths Toys retail business today stretches to 311 stores across the island of Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Holland and Switzerland.

It operates 124 stores in England, Scotland and Wales.

The directors for the UK unit state that the 2% or £14.8m increase in revenues from £938.7m to £953.5m is primarily due to an increase in footfall in the stores and the addition of seven new stores during the year.

The opening of seven new stores follows two new store openings in 2023.

The company recorded operating profits of £20.6m and interest expenses of £2.1m resulted in the pre-tax profits of £18.5m.

They state that the company’s gross margin increased from 17.6% to 18.6% in 2024 “due to the increase in sales and continued focus on cost reduction”.

The firm’s buoyant performance resulted in the business paying out a dividend of £20m. 

The directors state that they “are pleased with this result particularly given the current economic climate and the competitive marketplace”.

Numbers employed by Smyths Toys UK Ltd increased by 177 from 3,386 to 3,563.

On the future developments of the business, the directors that it is envisaged that further expansion will occur in the UK market in the coming years through the opening of new stores.

Along with the 124 stores in England, Scotland and Wales today, its separate Northern Ireland arm operates seven stores and that company has yet to file its 2024 accounts.

The size of the overall business across the UK, Ireland and Europe has increased sharply in recent years with the expansion into France following the acquisition of PicWic Toys in France in July 2022.

In the past year, Smyths Toys has expanded its presence in France to bring to 52 stores there today and it also operates four stores in Holland.

 The firm’s German business has also expanded in the past year where it today operates 76 stores.

The company also has a presence in Austria where it operates 16 stores and 11 in Switzerland 

The business is operated by the Smyth family from Co Mayo 

Staff costs at Smyths Toys UK last year increased by 10% from £67.65m to £74.34m.

The profits take account of non-cash depreciation costs of £16.82m. 

The company’s lease costs totalled £35.4m. The company recorded a post tax profit of £13.1m arising from a corporation tax charge of £5.36m. 

Revenues were made up of retail sale of goods totalled £899.29m and services to group companies totalling £54.26m

After the dividend payout offset by the post tax profit, shareholder funds at the end of December last totalled £10.22m that included accumulated profits of £7.2m.

The firm’s cash funds decreased from £18.5m to £8.5m.