Trading Update: Theo Paphitis Retail Group Year Ended March 2025 and Current Trading Highlights
Boux Avenue brand resonates with customers as it delivers a major step forward in its profitability, with EBITDA improving £6.4m to deliver a profit - following sales growth of 6.9% and improved margins. Progress has continued throughout the current year and is on track to see a further and significant improvement in EBITDA to at least £4m, for the year ending March 2026, following a particularly strong Christmas and Valentine’s campaign seeing double digit growth.
Ryman’s progress continues with an increase in EBITDA of 20.5% for the year reported to £1.94m, and is on track for a significant increase to £3m in EBITDA for the year ending March 2026. The brand sees growth in margins driven by new ranges in its own brand arts and crafts and services across both channels. Further investment in joint stores with Robert Dyas, new Ryman Design concept stores, Post Offices and key services and partnerships.
Robert Dyas had a tougher time in its high street stores and whilst these challenges have continued into the current trading year, we are pleased to say that promising green shoots are now appearing, due to changes in strategy. Robert Dyas grew its e-commerce business with double digit growth at 11.8% for the year reported (March end 2025) - including 22.4% growth delivered from our Dropship proposition. Theo Paphitis has taken up the role of Interim CEO to inject a strategic and management refresh into the brand.
London Graphic Centre’s current year has seen like-for-like well ahead of the market at 17.4% with a record-breaking year in sales, Margin, EBITDA and celebrated its highest single-day trading during its Student Day Promotion (for Year end March 2025).The progress continues into the current trading year (Yr end March 2026), with the business now becoming an iconic destination brand for art and stationery lovers worldwide.
Theo Paphitis, Owner and Chairman of Ryman, Robert Dyas, Boux Avenue and London Graphic Centre said:
“Boux Avenue has come of age and this is reflected in the continuing results, showing that our customers are actively seeking out the brand. I am delighted with the performance of Boux Avenue over recent years as it continues to deliver growth in sales and a significant improvement in profitability, now a compelling brand in the marketplace. We have made further progress in the current year which sees previous investment in the brand rewarded by double digit growth on top of the 6.9% sales growth of the prior year. The brand continues to resonate with consumers, with the customer love continuing into February with a stand out Valentine’s campaign.
The brand success has also been reflected in recent investment in a new store opening in Manchester Arndale, and a Liverpool One relocation with an improved and modern feel, as well as a relocation to a much larger store, to meet demand of the brand, in the Trafford Centre. Buoyant trading is more than justifying the investment made and we will be seeing further refits to our stores over the coming year with Bluewater underway and Westfield London due in the next few weeks. Where we can find the right sites we will be looking to open more stores in 2026 and beyond.
It is clear that our customers are responding to the enhanced product range and the next-level aspirational nature of the brand, across our stores online and our partnerships, resulting in Boux Avenue growth across the board. We have had numerous sell-through product ranges; which has continued into this current year; a testament to the customer loyalty, product design, marketing campaigns and social media focus - as well as the great procurement strategy in place. Once again, this reflects the hard work of the management and wider team that Boux Avenue is being so warmly received by their customer base.
Ryman, having felt the impact of the pandemic the most within our Group, I am pleased to say has returned to delivering a positive EBITDA, with a further stepped improvement into the current year.
We are in a time where other heritage bands, such as WH Smith, have disappeared from the high street. A stark reminder to high street retailers to remember their purpose and reason to exist and evolve accordingly, especially in a time when the customer is more promiscuous than they have ever been due to online choice. The team has dug deep on a Ryman refocus and I am delighted to see this pay off.
Repositioning some of the Ryman proposition, and an extensive amount of work undertaken in developing higher margin revenue streams, is now reaping the rewards. This includes investment and success in our services - via the Ryman App, website and stores, brand partnerships with international stationery brands and fashion houses seeing us as a credible partner, own brand product ranges and extended community led services such as ink cartridge recycling (with 425k units recycled this financial year alone).
We have been delighted to demonstrate the tenacity and opportunity of the UK high street via new stores. Ryman Design is a proven concept with 5 stores in the UK, with an eye on more in the right locations, and is inspirational to the wider retail Group. We have also added two new stores with Post Offices in Artillery Row and High Street Kensington in Central London and will look to take on more Post Offices as and when they become available, and in the right locations for the business.
A recent trip to the Far East highlighted the opportunity in Japanese and fashion stationery as well as arts and crafts and we also look to develop further European partnerships for new product lines and ranges.
Robert Dyas has had a more testing time and at the end of last summer, I increased my direct involvement in the brand, taking up the role of Interim CEO to steady the ship and refocus the strategic direction with the brand, as I have with other brands in my Group over the years. Whilst we have seen positive trading with our Ecommerce business, which was 11.8% in the year reported, we needed a refresh and to deliver more consistently to our loyal customers through our well positioned store portfolio. We have enhanced our click and collect proposition and increased our joint stores with Ryman, whilst work is continuing on enhancing our ranges with our key suppliers. We will focus on using the digital strategy that has worked so successfully with the other brands, to drive customers back to stores.
London Graphic Centre is iconic, both in its product range and position in Central London, and has fast become a go-to place, not just for art professionals, students and lovers of stationery but also for tourists who enjoy the iconic backdrop and retail experience.
I am proud of the resilience and creativity shown by all of my brands to progress in such a difficult environment. Retail is a crucial sector, and contributor to our economy and communities, but we are still seeing long-standing brands face difficulties or disappearing from our high streets. I have personally continued to provide support to all of our companies and the growth delivered I have seen is very encouraging.”
Boux Avenue
In the year reported (end March 2025), Boux Avenue saw a major step forward in its profitability, with EBITDA improving £6.4m to deliver a profit, following sales growth of 6.9% and improved margins.
Boux Avenue’s ranges and marketing campaigns, focusing on fit, aspiration and style resonated with our customers across all channels and translated commercially.
The business has continued its momentum and strong trading throughout the current year (ending March 2026) and is on track to see a further and significant improvement in EBITDA to at least £4m, which is well ahead of our plans.
The year culminated in a strong peak with 'double digit' sales growth and margins with love continuing into February well ahead of plan (1st-14th Feb 26: total Valentine sales across this period saw +30% Y-on-Y).
All channels; stores, e-commerce and partnerships, have shown good growth over the last 2 years.
Our confidence in the brand has seen us open new stores in Manchester Arndale, an improved relocated store in Liverpool and a larger store in the Trafford Centre, reflecting our commitment to investing in our store network in the right locations. This includes refitting stores as the opportunity arises with our Bluewater store fit underway, and Westfield London planned in the coming weeks.
Looking ahead, we intend to continue to delight our loyal customers and growing base in the UK and are exploring opportunities in new markets through further partnerships.
Ryman
Progress continued for Ryman with an increase in EBITDA of +20.5% for the year reported to £1.94m (Yr end March 2025). The impact of the changes and developments within the Ryman business are coming through strongly in the current financial year (Yr end 2026) with our EBITDA for the year ending March 2026 expected to be comfortably ahead of £3m, a significant step forward from the prior year.
This has been achieved through growth in our margins delivered through new and improved ranges, a focus on products with better margins and the success in our services, particularly in store.
Stores opened in Artillery Row and High Street Kensington - showing strategic investment in the UK High Street and a further Ryman Design store in Bluewater.
Following a significant change in our core markets coming out of the pandemic, Ryman is now reaping the rewards of the extensive work undertaken in developing our offer and repositioning our stores for the future, understanding its reason to exist and flourish.
This has seen investment in our services, including on demand printing through our Ryman App, website and stores, brand partnerships and own brand product ranges (Ryman arts and crafts) to increase our appeal to a wider customer base.
There has been further investment in the Ryman Design concept, now totalling five stores, with our most recent opening in Bluewater in December. Ryman Design provides a wide range of greeting cards and lifestyle stationery, including some of the leading brands from the UK, Europe and Japan.
We have also increased our joint stores with Robert Dyas with our most recent being in Epsom where we have relocated an existing Ryman store and seen an immediate response from our customers.
New Ryman Post Offices have opened this year, and we look at further strategic opportunities going forward. We have a combination of Ryman, Robert Dyas and Post Office on the Strand, London.
Ryman is committed to our high streets where we have a heritage spanning over 130 years and we are pleased to see the resilience shown by our management and colleagues over the last few years being rewarded.
London Graphic Centre
The iconic arts brand based in Covent Garden, London Graphic Centre, is trading strongly, with current year like-for-like well ahead of the market at 17.4% (stores and ecommerce Yr end 2025). The store is central to serving the creative community in Covent Garden in London as well as attracting visitors to London interested in art, design and the best stationery the world has to offer.
Strong growth in the current trading year will see a further significant improvement in EBITDA.
The London Graphic Centre is also renowned for supporting the arts community, with the London Graphic Centre x Theo Paphitis Art Prize now in its 5th year, having supported and rewarded many up-and-coming and established UK artists.
Robert Dyas
In a tough year, our strategy on growing our e-commerce business at Robert Dyas saw further progress with double digit growth at 11.8% for the year reported.
This included 22.4% growth delivered from our Dropship proposition which significantly widens choice to our customers, particularly during our garden season. There has been further investment in technology to include an improved click and collect proposition as we continue to also see our stores being an important part of our future.
Our Robert Dyas loyalty programme, MyDyas, has helped us to improve our understanding of our customers’ preferences and we are now using this to reward our loyal customers, as well as influence our marketing campaigns on a local basis. We have reached 1.9m members, with 25% of transactions in our stores associated with MyDyas.
We did experience more challenging trading in our 93 high street stores in the year with like-for-like sales at -5%. This was a combination of seeing lower footfall and an unseasonal summer and winter in the year reported.
The prior year also experienced a spike in demand for energy saving products, including air fryers, associated accessories and dehumidifiers which have returned to a more normal level of sales. In response, we have undertaken a thorough review of our ranging, focusing on our key categories for the home and garden and introduced relevant services.
Positive results have come through on our workshop and decorating categories as well as our specialist cleaning products.
We have continued to look at optimising our space and increasing our productivity by developing our joint stores with Ryman. We now have 12 joint stores and we have seen customers increasing their purchases across both brands when visiting.
Our store on the Strand in London, originally a Robert Dyas store, now combines Robert Dyas, Ryman and a Post Office. We will be looking to expand the joint store proposition further across our existing estate and into new stores given our success so far. Our most recent joint store in Epsom, where an existing Ryman has amalgamated into Robert Dyas in January 2026, has the full service proposition of Ryman print and related services. We are encouraged by the significant level of transfer of the Ryman business which will enhance the contribution for both brands in the town.
We believe that our EBITDA loss of £3.4m (2024 – loss £0.7m) does not reflect the strength and loyalty of the Robert Dyas brand. Consequently, changes have been made to the management team to refocus on improving performance across all channels. Owner, Theo Paphitis will continue in the role of interim CEO of Robert Dyas demonstrating his commitment to the business, and to steer the heritage brand to a renewed reason to exist.
ENDS
Monday March 16th 2026