Victoria Beckham’s fashion and beauty brand has turned a profit for the first time since it launched in 2008, a milestone delivered in spite of a challenging macroeconomic slump affecting global luxury goods.

Revenue at Victoria Beckham Holdings rose 15 per cent to £129.8 million in the year to the end of December, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth. The company posted a pre-tax profit of £3.38 million, compared with a loss of £4.85 million the year before, while operating profit reached £7.3 million against an operating loss of £1.6 million in the previous year.

The company said on Monday that the improvement in its bottom line was driven by “disciplined cost control, stronger direct-to-consumer trading and an expanding international wholesale presence”.

Sybille Darricarrère Lunel, chief executive of Victoria Beckham, said: “Achieving our first operating profit is a landmark moment and reflects several years of disciplined execution and strategic investment.

“Delivering this result against a more challenging luxury market and macro backdrop makes it an even more significant milestone for the business.”

From £66m of losses into the black

Before its turnaround, the label of the former Spice Girl had accumulated more than £66 million in losses, relying on multimillion-pound cash injections from her husband David Beckham’s personal fortune. Accounts covering 2024 showed the Beckhams and the private equity firm Neo Investment Partners providing a £6.9 million injection, with £3 million meeting working capital needs at the fashion label and £3.9 million building inventory at Victoria Beckham Beauty.

The reasons behind the prolonged struggle were laid bare last year in a Netflix documentary, which revealed a corporate culture in which employees were afraid to tell Beckham “no”, allowing overhead expenses to run out of control.

When David Belhassen, the private equity investor who founded Neo, stepped in to audit the business, he uncovered striking examples of aesthetic perfection put before fiscal reality. The company was spending £70,000 a year on office plants simply because she loved them, while an external contractor was paid a further £15,000 a year just to water them.

Beckham admitted to high-end indulgences born of her entertainment background, such as flying luxury chairs from one side of the world to the other for the office space.

Two chief executives, two cities

The company recruited two new chief executives last year to lead the two sides of the business. Lunel joined as chief executive of the fashion business from Christian Dior Couture last July and is based in London, while Lauren Edelman was promoted from global chief marketing officer to chief executive of the beauty business last January and is based in New York.

The beauty business, launched in 2019, is reported to generate about two-thirds of group revenue. Fellow British beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury reported a £21 million pre-tax profit on sales of £539 million in newly filed accounts covering its own year to the end of December.

The wider luxury sector remains under pressure, however. Burberry is cutting up to 1,700 jobs in a global savings drive after a sharp downturn in the luxury market pushed the British fashion house to a £66 million pre-tax loss.

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