Revenues back on track at Kilkenny Design after Covid hit

Kilkenny Design Group, the luxury goods retailer owned by the O’Gorman family, rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic in the 12 months to the end of January 2022 and is now “planning for growth”, its chief executive has said.

New accounts for the group’s holding company, Clydaville Holdings – owned by Marion O’Gorman along with her four children and Conor Lynch, the group’s finance director – show group turnover increased by 42 per cent in its 2021 financial year, from €18.8 million in Covid-dominated 2020 to €26.7 million.

The group reported a pretax loss of €1.2 million for the year, down from €2.3 million when its outlets were shuttered for long periods due to public-health restrictions.

The loss mostly related to exceptional items of about €1.5 million, including a €1.2 million provision for legal costs associated with the row between Kilkenny Design and the landlord of its flagship shop and restaurant on Nassau Street, Dublin 2.

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Clydaville brought High Court proceedings against Larry Goodman’s Setanta Centre Unlimited Group in 2019, after the latter entity secured planning permission from Dublin City Council to redevelop the building as a €150 million office block. The matter was adjourned and then settled out of court last year with Setanta reportedly giving assurances that the development would not go ahead nor would the building be sold.

Evelyn Moynihan, who in 2021 replaced Marian O’Gorman as chief executive of Kilkenny Design after 22 years at the helm of the company, said that the €1.2 million provision related to “legal costs associated with the Nassau Street case”. The group is “delighted to say that case is settled” and that the provision in its most recent accounts would be the last of the costs associated with it, she added.

Before exceptional items, Kilkenny Group generated operating profits of close to €502,000 in the year to the end of January 2022, down slightly from €765,277, due to higher administrative costs, which jumped 25 per cent to €13.4 million.

Ms Moynihan said that while it had been “a tough climate to operate in” because of Covid, “we’re, I suppose, feeling very positive that we were able to deliver more than €500,000 in retail operating profit”, after sales plunged by 45 per cent in 2020.

She partially credited the transformation of Kilkenny Design’s online retail offering for the strong sales performance.

“We are doing a lot of work in this space,” Ms Moynihan said. “Our focus is on growing our omni channel offering, and making sure that experience is seamless for the customer, whether they’re shopping online, or whether they’re going into one of our bricks-and-mortar stores.”

She said Kilkenny is continuing to invest in its digital transformation, which has included the launch of a virtual reality store, allowing customers to venture around a “virtual shop” without leaving their sofa.

“But that’s something that actually was produced and delivered during the periods of 2021. And it’s something that we’re going to continue to continue to invest in.”

Ms Moynihan said the group is “positive” about the outlook despite economic challenges and is now “planning for growth” with the return of international travel and the expansion of its online offering.