TJX's TK Maxx bounces back, wipes out Covid losses

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 13, 2022

Discount retailer TJX UK has announced its results for the 52 weeks up to the end of January and is clearly bouncing back from the pandemic, despite the latest accounts including some periods of Covid-linked store closures. 

The company, which operates the TK Maxx and Homesense stores, said that turnover rose to £3.3 billion from £2.2 billion a year earlier. That was a 45.2% increase and more than made up for the 34.6% drop that it had seen in the previous year as the pandemic impacted the business.

Gross profit rose to £492.3 million from £115.3 million. Pre-tax profit was £14.4 million, a swing from a loss of £255.7 million. Also encouraging was the fact that the company made a net profit of £24.5 million in the latest year, bouncing back from a loss of £205.9 million in the previous year. 

As mentioned, the recovery came even though it continued to be significantly impacted by the pandemic with stores, distribution centres and offices closed for part of the 12-month period. Covid also impacted consumer behaviour, but the company’s flexible off-price business model allowed it to adjust merchandise assortments quickly.

It's continued to expand its store footprint and opened three TK Maxx stores as well as closing one Homesense location. This means that at the end of the period it had 352 TK Maxx and 75 Homesense UK stores.