Beaverbrooks profit falls as managing director urges relief from rising business costs

Beaverbrooks reported broadly flat sales and a 9% fall in underlying operating profit for 2025/26, prompting managing director Anna Blackburn to urge the government to ease pressure on business costs ahead of the October budget. The figures show how a jeweller can hold sales steady while earning less from its regular operations.

The family-owned group’s turnover edged down 0.1% to £217m, while underlying operating profit fell to £7.8m, according to reports by the Guardian and Luxurious Magazine published on 28 September. Luxurious Magazine also reported that like-for-like sales rose 1.1%, equivalent to £2.4m. That measure describes sales on a comparable basis; the group’s overall turnover still slipped slightly.

What the profit figures show

The distinction between underlying and reported profit matters in these results. Luxurious Magazine said reported operating profit rose 49% to £12.8m, but that figure included £5m of exceptional income from an insurance claim. The £7.8m underlying figure excludes that income and is the measure that fell 9%. A rise in reported profit therefore does not erase the decline in the underlying measure.

Luxurious Magazine said the company attributed part of that decline to higher employer National Insurance contributions and an increase in the National Living Wage. That is Beaverbrooks’ explanation as reported by the publication; the available reports do not quantify how much each cost contributed to the profit change. Blackburn told the Guardian she regarded the company’s performance as strong against difficult conditions in the jewellery trade.

Blackburn’s appeal ahead of the budget

In the Guardian interview, Blackburn asked the government to help restore consumer confidence and provide stability by addressing unemployment and inflation. She urged ministers to avoid adding taxes in the October budget while retailers prepare for Christmas trading. ‘Give business a bit of a break and stimulate some growth and confidence,’ she said, calling for a long-term, joined-up strategy.

Her comments concern future policy, rather than an announced change to tax or wage rules. The reports do not establish whether ministers will adopt her request. They also do not provide an exact date for the October budget, so the immediate point for retailers is the uncertainty about what it may contain.

The employment costs cited by the company sit alongside published UK payroll rates. HM Revenue & Customs lists the standard employer Class 1 National Insurance rate for 2026/27 as 15% on earnings above the applicable secondary threshold, which is £5,000 a year for the standard category. It lists the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over at £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. Those rates describe the current policy setting; they do not, by themselves, measure Beaverbrooks’ wage bill or explain its full profit movement.

Blackburn is not the only retailer to raise the issue of employment costs. The Guardian reported that JD Sports’ chief executive had criticised the combination of higher employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum-wage increase. He argued that it pushed retailers toward more technology and fewer young hires. That is his assessment of the pressure on retailers, rather than evidence that the same hiring response has occurred across the sector.

Investment continues despite the squeeze

Beaverbrooks has opened a fourth Loupe watch boutique in Sheffield and plans work at its Trafford Centre outlet in Manchester and at Lakeside in Essex, the Guardian reported. Luxurious Magazine described a wider refurbishment programme for 2026/27, including substantial redevelopment plans for those two locations. The plans indicate where the company intends to direct investment while underlying profit is under pressure; the reported results do not establish what return those projects will produce.

Luxurious Magazine also reported plans for a new 80,000 sq ft head office due to open in 2027. That opening remains prospective. For now, the established development is the contrast in the 2025/26 figures: comparable sales grew, overall turnover was almost unchanged, and underlying operating profit fell. Blackburn’s request for a pause in further cost increases follows that result, with the government’s response still unknown.