Sales and profits fell at family owned jeweller Beaverbrooks last year as it battled rising costs.
Revenues at the 106-year-old retailer, which runs 78 shops in Britain, slipped 3 per cent to £217.3million in the 12 months to February 28.
This caused profits to fall 20 per cent to £8.6million while Labour’s increases to wages and National Insurance cost the business £1.7million.
Boss Anna Blackburn said its closure of seven stores this year was a ‘last resort’ amid ‘a very difficult year for the sector’.
She added: ‘It’s tough. We have seen so many hospitality and retailers reducing numbers but we are not about automation, we are about customer service, so it is challenging.’
Blackburn, however, added she was ‘cautiously optimistic’ for the upcoming ‘golden quarter’.
Deluxe: Revenues at Beaverbrooks, which sells luxury brands including Breitling (modeled by Charlize Theron) slipped 3% to £217.3m in the 12 months to February 28
Beaverbrooks has spent £5.1million refurbishing stores in Glasgow, Bracknell in Berkshire and Peterborough, as well as opening a shop in Harrogate.
It said its Clover jewellery collection has been popular, too, with ‘strong’ Christmas sales.
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