Specsavers, the eyewear retailer, dished out a £15 million dividend to its parent company in Guernsey despite profits falling by 39% in the year to February 2023, a filing in companies house revealed.
Having tried to minimise potential price increases for customers amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, Specsavers Optical Superstores, controlled by founders Dame Mary Perkins and her husband Doug, avoided paying out any dividends in the year prior.
Despite a 1.1% revenue increase to £3.42 billion, operating profits for Specsavers dropped by 39%, from £453 million to £326 million, for the year ending February 28, 2023, attributing this decrease to absorbing inflationary pressures while trying to protect prices for the customers.
With the focus switching to the Canadian market - the group plans to open 200 stores there by 2024 - the optician continues to invest in marketing in the country.
“It is essential that the business responds appropriately to the economic challenges that we are facing,” the company’s accounts said.
“The combination of continued inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty impacting our customers means that we are more mindful than ever of the difference we can make in our communities by offering best-value products and professional clinical care to everyone.”
Establishing Specsavers in 1984 while training as optometrists, the Perkins family has expanded the business across the UK and Ireland, earning recognition for its innovative business approach aimed at making optician visits feel more like shopping than a medical consultation.