In the latest instalment in our ‘How’s Business?’ season, kbbreview gets an update of the current state of play from major national retailers…
Victorian Plumbing
The online bathroom retailer reported making revenue of £152.7m for the first half of the financial year, a 6% year-on-year increase over the £144.6m earned at this point in 2024. Victorian Plumbing also generated adjusted pre-tax profits of £15.2m for the first half of 2025 – an impressive 15% boost over last year’s half-year profits of £13.2m.
Howdens
Across the first four months of the year, Howdens’ UK revenue was up by 2.6% year-on-year.
The company made £2.322bn in revenue in its full-year 2024 results – a 0.5% increase over the previous year’s sales despite the difficult market.
Magnet
Nobia, Magnet’s parent company, reported 2025’s Q1 net sales dropped to SEK 2.474bn (approximately £191m), falling by around 5% from last year’s SEK 2.615bn (roughly £202m). However, operating profit improved by a significant 86% year-on-year, rising from SEK -44m this time last year to SEK -6m in Q1 2025. As a result, Magnet’s UK MD said the company is in a state of recovery after a difficult few years.
Wickes
For the first 17 weeks of 2025, Wickes reported earning revenue of £396.7m. This is healthy growth of almost 10% year-on-year, and like-for-like revenue growth of 9.2%. Although seeing a flat performance in comparison – with a slight 0.4% year-on-year dip – Wickes also said its big ticket design & install business has continued its recovery too.
Wren
Wren’s last published numbers, revealed in October 2024, showed its parent company’s pre-tax profits fell to £35.1 million in the 2023 financial year. This is a reduction of more than 53%, significantly down from the 2022 year’s profits of £75.9m. The Group also saw a hefty decline in its turnover. In its latest figures, West Retail reports turnover of £991.6m – a decline of just over 26% on last year’s figure of £1.25 billion. West Retail Group has not yet publicly released its figures for 2024 or beyond.