Lookers repays furlough – but not business rates
13 April 2022
Lookers boss Mark Raban is “proud and delighted” to have repaid £4.1m of furlough support as profits hit record levels. The retailer posted pre-tax profit of £90m for the year ended December 2021, with sales rising 9% to £4bn. This compares to £1.5m in 2020 and a £45m loss in 2019, when it admitted to overstating profits for three years.
Mr Raban justified not returning £9.8m of business rates relief because it “wasn’t support we claimed for, it was just applied for councils. We were closed for the first quarter, and we weren’t designated essential retail, so we think it’s bona fide.”