Harrods greater than doubled the pay of managing director, Michael Ward, final 12 months to £2.3m, whilst the corporate collected nearly £6m in authorities help beneath the furlough scheme.
Ward, understood to be the best paid director on the upmarket division story in Knightsbridge, west London, elevated his package deal from £1m the earlier 12 months after Harrods returned to revenue as pandemic restrictions eased.
Harrods Restricted, the corporate that operates the London retailer, made a pretax revenue of £51m within the 12 months to the top of January 2022 after a lack of £68m a 12 months earlier. Gross sales soared by 35% to £582m on the easing of lockdown restrictions and the return of worldwide travellers, together with from the Center East.
The division retailer stated it had benefited from furlough funds of £5.8m within the 12 months to 29 January, though that was significantly decrease than the £23.5m within the prior 12 months. The discount in help got here as excessive avenue lockdowns lowered and the variety of employees at Harrods Restricted fell by greater than 400 to three,511.
The retailer additionally elevated inner royalty funds from £23.2m to £33.5m. The funds cowl curiosity on a mortgage from Harrods’ homeowners, the Qatar Funding Authority sovereign wealth fund, which has a property portfolio in London that features the Shard skyscraper and elements of the Olympic Village in Stratford. No dividend funds had been made within the 12 months.
The accounts reveal Harrods has a £620m mortgage that matures in October subsequent 12 months after securing an 18-month extension. Ward informed the Occasions, which first reported Harrods’ revenue figures, that he was snug the retailer had ample cashflow to cowl greater rates of interest.
Ward informed the Sunday Occasions the enterprise was on observe to bounce again this 12 months to the gross sales of round £870m achieved pre-pandemic.
Harrods was contacted for remark.
