Watches of Switzerland’s UK operation posts middling financials

Watches of Switzerland’s UK operation has published its financial results for the year ending 27 April 2025.

Although turnover was up from the same period from the year before, operating profit halved to £16,095,000.

At its post-Covid peak in the year ending 1 May 2022, Watches of Switzerland Company Limited’s operating profit was £87,046,000, more than five times its figure from 2025.

In its strategic report, the company says that the majority of its sales are still coming from domestic clientele, pointing out that tourist spending has still not bounced back following the decision of the government in 2021 to scrap VAT-free shopping for non-EU tourists.

Although government officials have always claimed that scrapping these VAT refunds saves £2 billion per year, reports from Oxford Economics suggest that for every £1 refunded in VAT, the UK would actually gain £1.56 in other tax revenues (like corporation tax and income tax from staff) because of the extra economic activity that would come with it. In other words, when wealthy people fly to London to buy a watch, they tend to stay in a hotel, eat out, pop to the theatre etc.

In the period being reported, Watches of Switzerland opened a multi-brand showroom in Edinburgh, but closed 14 ‘non-core’ showrooms (with a further 10 being closed after the end of the period that the financial results cover). This has been done, the company says, to “consolidate our portfolio and drive productivity across our estate.”

The strategic report also points to the success of the opening of its Rolex flagship store on Bond Street last March. “Trading has exceeded expectations since opening,” they say.

These results come on the same day as the news of the wider Watches of Switzerland’s Group acquisition of Deutsch & Deutsch in the States.