Rigby & Peller slides into the red as Brits cut back on luxury items
CORSET-MAKER to the Queen, Rigby & Peller has become the latest lingerie chain to be hit by cash-strapped Brits reining in their spending.
The luxury retailer, whose fans include Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga and Nick Clegg’s wife Miriam González Durántez, dived into the red by £214,000 in the 12 months to the end of January, compared with a pre-tax profit of £168,000 a year earlier. Sales slipped one per cent to £9.8m, despite the opening of a new store. In accounts just filed at Companies House, Rigby & Peller said that the results were “disappointing” but that it is “well positioned to benefit from an upturn in the overall economy”. Initially, underwear brands reported strong trading in the recession. Rival Agent Provocateur made a pre-tax loss of £1.1m in the year to March 2009 as it was also hit by the downturn.