David and Victoria Beckham pay themselves £21m in dividends over two years
Like most retailers, Victoria Beckham's fashion business was affected by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Friday 22 January 2021 12:36, UK
David and Victoria Beckham have paid themselves £21m in dividends from their businesses over the last two years.
The accounts filed with Companies House showed that a £14.5m dividend was paid to the famous couple in 2019, up from £11.1m in 2018, with a further £7.1m in 2020.
The most recent amount went to the Beckhams after they bought the 33% stake in David Beckham Ventures Limited that had been owned by XIX Entertainment - a media group run by music mogul Simon Fuller.
Pre-tax profits at the company, which manages the former footballer's global brand rights, dropped to £11.3m in 2019, from £14.8m the year before.
The decline was due to charitable donations made to UNICEF, currency fluctuations, and increasing staff numbers.
Mrs Beckham's fashion business, meanwhile, saw pre-tax losses grow from £12.5m in 2018 to £16.6m in 2019.
Victoria Beckham Holdings Limited, which is owned by Beckham Brand Holdings, XIX Entertainment and private equity firm NEO investment Partners, launched a cost-cutting programme last September.
Also last year, the group said it had breached the financial covenants of a loan with HSBC, which led to shareholders injecting £9.2m to settle the debt.
Sales at the fashion label increased £2.5m to £38.3m in 2019, but it continued to lose money and did not pay a dividend.
The accounts said: "Directors continue to focus on taking the company to break even.
"Since the year end, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted trading, with stores carrying the company's products subject to varying lockdown restrictions.
"This led to a substantial closure of the group's stores during 2020 (late March to end May, November, late December onwards) and a resulting impact on revenues.
"Over this period the company's ecommerce operations saw positive year-on-year growth."