British luxury watch brand Bremont slumped to a loss of more than £14m in the year American billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman became a minority investor , it has been revealed. The Oxfordshire-based business has reported a pre-tax loss of £14.3m for the year to June 30, 2023, according to newly-filed accounts .
The results, which have been published almost five months late on Companies House, come after Bremont reported a pre-tax loss of £1.6m in the prior year. During the year its turnover also fell from £22m to £20.
3m. Bremont said its results were impacted by the “commitment of significant resources” to the development of the ENG 300 movement and the in-house design and manufacture of components which “constrained capacity” to produce other watches. The business added that it had exceptional costs of £5.
7m which primarily consisted of stock provisions, fixed asset impairment and credit note provisions. In January 2023 it was announced that Ackman had invested £48.8m alongside Bremont’s lead investor, private equity fund Hellcat.
At the time it was said that Bremont was valued at around £100m. Bremont was co-founded by brothers Giles and Nick English in 2002. In a statement signed off by the board, Bremont said: “The end of the year saw the appointment of Davide Cerrato as CEO and the launch of an ambitious multi-year strategy aimed at building on Bremont’s impressive legacy to create a British national champion in the global luxury watch mark.