Premium formalwear brand LK Bennett has posted a loss with its accounts for the year to last January. The London-based womenswear, footwear and accessories retailer said in a Companies House accounts filing that it made a pre-tax loss of £3.1 million in the 12 months compared to a pre-tax profit of £2.3 million in the previous period.

We don’t yet know any details of how it’s fared since then with its accounts filing for its next financial year not likely to come until later this year or early next.

The company swinging to a pre-tax loss came as it also saw revenue falling to £42.1 million from £48.7 million during the year. The gross margin also fell quite sharply from 61.9% in the previous financial period 254.9% this time. The net loss for the year was £3.5 million after a net profit of £1.8 million in the previous year.

It said it was affected by the tough economic climate in the UK as well as global events that added to inflation and the overall cost-of-living crisis.

While it operates stores in mainland Europe and Ireland, the UK is an important part of the company’s business both for its physical stores and it’s online store and it added that it’s important that it “reacts to the marketplace and relevant changes in consumer spending as rapidly as possible”.

What that meant was an intention post period end “to review customer requirements and ensure the product range matches these expectations”. In practice that has included adding relevant new categories and adding to its size range.

At the time, the directors also added that they were remain confident about the businesses ability to react positively to the challenges out there.