John Smedley’s filed accounts show a £720,000 pretax loss for the year to March 2025 as the British knitwear maker seeks to sustain output and local jobs at its Derbyshire mill.
Companies House records show the accounts for the year ended Mar. 31, 2025, were filed on Oct. 9 that year. Turnover fell 5% to £16.8 million, and the group moved from a £270,000 pretax profit in the previous year to a loss.
In 2024, John Smedley announced plans to spend more than £3 million on Shima Seiki knitting machines and a further £1.5 million on factory renovations. The company said seasonal production for outside labels would resume from April 2024 for the Spring/Summer 2025 season, following a pause of more than 40 years. It said the work was intended to increase factory output and support local jobs.
The Guardian reported that a 230-person manufacturing team makes 4,500 items a week across John Smedley’s own range and work for outside labels, including Lanvin, Margaret Howell and Daks. The company dates the Lea Mills site to 1784 and says it began producing more complex knitwear there in 1825.
John Smedley also announced a 2025 capsule collection with actor Bill Nighy as a creative partner. The company said the British-made garments use merino wool, cashmere and Sea Island cotton.
The Guardian reported that Japan represents half of John Smedley’s international trade and that the weaker yen hurt sales there. It also said higher employer National Insurance contributions and minimum-wage costs added £700,000 to the company’s expenses, with energy and labor costs further weighing on profitability.
Managing Director Jess McGuire-Dudley told The Guardian that recent months had been profitable and described trading as difficult. The Guardian separately reported that UK sales grew in the 12 months to Mar. 31, 2026, for the first time in more than five years, linking the rise to the Nighy collaboration, the JS line and a new website. The outlet did not give sales or profit figures for those claims.
Companies House lists the next accounts for a period ending Sept. 30, 2026, with a filing deadline of June 30, 2027.
