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Dr Martens looks to increase office footprint in Camden as bootmaker records higher sales

Dr Martens, led by Kenny Wilson, has reported higher sales (�Tom Stockill)
Dr Martens, led by Kenny Wilson, has reported higher sales (�Tom Stockill)

Dr Martens is looking to expand the size of its office footprint in Camden Town, it emerged on Thursday as the company posted its first results since the famous boot brand’s £3.7 billion London float.

The retailer said pre-tax profits dropped 30% to £70.9 million in the year to March, which was linked to costs around its IPO in January.

But it saw total revenues increase 15% to £773 million, despite disruption from temporary store closures during lockdowns. It sold some 12.7 million pairs of footwear-up 14%, and cheered online growth.

Popular ranges included limited edition collections of its classic 1460 boots.

Chief executive Kenny Wilson added that since stores reopened, the company is “encouraged by what it is seeing in London”.

Despite the encouraging performance, the guidance set out at the time of the IPO for the current financial year remains unchanged.

Shares in the firm, which floated at 370p per share, dropped 48.88p, or over 9%, to 446.12p.

Meanwhile, Wilson told the Evening Standard that the company is looking for an additional 15,000 square feet of office space near its 30,000 square feet HQ which it will keep.

That comes after London staff numbers increased during the pandemic.

Wilson said Dr Martens envisages offering flexible working from October, with the majority of staff likely to be in the office between 40-60% of the working week.

Millions of office staff would be given a 'default' right to work from home under post-pandemic plans ministers are looking at, according to the Daily Mail.

It reported that the proposals would change the law to make it impossible for employers to insist on staff attending the workplace unless they can show it is essential.

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