Independent furniture retailer Graham and Green has reported a growth in sales while higher costs impact margins.

According to its latest filed accounts for the year ended 31 July 2022, total sales rose 4.6% to £17.5m from £16.7m in 2021. Pre-tax profit resulted at £1.1m, down from £3.3m compared to the previous year.

Stated within its report, the company, which trades through its website and four stores – three in London and one in Bath, said high import costs and logistics impacted margins while sales delivered another record year.

“After such a good year in 2021 where sales increased 35% having moved from stores to online due to the pandemic, we began to see shoppers returning to our stores and online continuing to grow this year.

“Later in the financial year we saw the effect of the cost-of-living crisis with inflation rising and interest rates increasing. From February onwards we began to see a dip in sales after the war started and the cost-of-living crisis started to take its toll like many retailers have seen.

“High costs on importation and transport due to Brexit and fuel costs continue to have an effect on our margins. Gross margin has dropped from 53% to 46%, a little less than in 2020. However, still a very profitable year for us. Sales surprisingly rose again after the record year in 2021.

“Pressures on margins continued later in 2022 but are improving gradually due to better shipping costs and exchange rates becoming a little less onerous.”