Lush has reported a bumper financial year in 2025 with increased sales and a stabilisation of pre-tax loss, despite taking a hit from a surge in cocoa ingredient prices.
The group’s turnover amounted to £736.2m for the year ended 30 June 2025, and on a like-for-like basis, turnover increased by 8%, reflecting 7% growth in retail stores and 13% across digital platforms.
Total Lush brand sales, including sales from non-group partners and associates, were £836.7m, a 9.2% increase on last year, the company reported.
Sales performance was also driven by new product launches by the British beauty retailer and supported by several hero products receiving significant exposure on digital platforms and online customer forums.
These included Super Milk conditioning hair primer, Sticky Dates shower gel and Let the Good Times Roll body spray.
Cross-brand collaborations also generated around £34m in sales, and included collaborations with franchises such as Wicked, Hello Kitty, Minions and Minecraft.
The bath bomb maker was impacted by price surges in cocoa better, costing the business an additional £3.1m during the year.
A combination of factors, including poor harvests in West Africa driven by adverse weather and crop disease, together with tightening global supply, resulted in prices increasing by more than 400%.
“The year was not without its challenges,” a Lush company statement read.
“Political developments in both the US and the UK brought changes to the policy environment that have had financial implications for the group.
“In the UK, steep rises in employer National Insurance (NI) have increased our annual staff costs by approximately £3m.
“In the US, the use of tariffs as part of broader trade policy has also affected both our sales and cost base.
“Most goods sold to our US customers, both in stores and online, are manufactured in Canada and exported to the US.”
Pre-tax loss also narrowed to £6.7m, compared with the £52.1m loss recorded in 2024.
Lush’s £8.5m EBITDA loss also rose to a profit of £28.4m in 2025.
This benefited from the completion of approximately £6.5m of one-off restructuring costs relating to the consolidation of our manufacturing footprint in Europe and Canada.
Lush ended the 2025 financial year with net debt of £22.2m, representing a £10.7m increase from the £11.7m net debt position reported on 30 June 2024.
Lush added in its company statement: “The increase in net debt was largely driven by capital expenditure of £16.4m exceeding the £6.4m of cash generated from operating activities during the year.
“The increase in inventory reflects a higher level of new product launches and an expansion in the range of products available across the group’s retail estate and websites.
“This strategy is currently being refined, and we expect inventory levels to reduce throughout FY26.”
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