J Barbour & Sons’ accounts for the year to the end of April show falling revenues at the business after it had enjoyed a strong increase in the previous year. But the company’s profit improved, a turnaround from the last year when revenue had jumped but profits had fallen.

So let’s look at the numbers. Turnover was £321.79 million, down from £343.1 million last time. The 2023 financial year had seen a sharp increase from £286.5 million in 2022.

Meanwhile, the latest year’s operating profit of £39.56 million was actually higher than the £34.3 million of a year ago. And profit before tax was also up at £45.84 million after £36.3 million in the previous 12-month period. And net profit was £34.28 million, up from £33.8 million.

The international heritage lifestyle business operates in the UK and Ireland and has wholly-owned subsidies based in Germany, the US and Singapore (it opened its Singapore operation during the year to ensure it can meet demand in this market). It also has established distributor partnerships giving it access to other major markets.

It operates two brands, the heritage-focused Barbour and the motorcycling-inspired Barbour International.

The company said that the 2023-24 financial year saw a tougher wholesale market with declining sales from this channel, although it’s direct-to-consumer and e-commerce channels performed “very well” and increased year on year.

It added that despite the current “uncertainty and market contraction, we believe in the sustainable long-term growth of our business”. It’s continuing to invest and is working through structural changes to mitigate any negative impact.

The company has continued to open new stores, launch collaborations and other initiatives.

Recent openings included a London flagship in Covent Garden, a store in the capital’s Soho neighbourhood and a store at the Victoria Leeds mall. The latter not only marked the British heritage lifestyle brand’s Leeds debut but also its first ‘New Heritage’ retail store outside of London.

It also launched a co-designed collection with Alexa Chung and created a charity rental scheme in a deal with Oxfam for the Glastonbury festival.