The Guernsey-based optical giant, which employs some 500 people locally, saw profits rise 26.6% to £430m. in the year to the end of February. Turnover was up 7% at £4.26bn according to filings at Companies House.
Specsavers said sales had risen ‘as we continue to attract customers to the brand despite a challenging macro-economic landscape’.
It attributed the rise in profits to keeping costs flat and reducing non-value added activities. It warned about inflation continuing to ‘present both challenges and opportunity’ and said it would look to absorb price increases and avoid passing them on to customers, ‘enabling us to continue to support them through these challenging economic times’.
It said it had faced inflation on wages, utilities and from supplier costs, as well as increasing regulatory pressure.
Inflation in the island is currently running at 4.3% as at June, while the UK calculation, the Consumer Prices Index, rose from 2.6% to 2.9% in July.
Specsavers has recently invested in improving its website as customers increasingly want to mix in-store visits with interacting online.
The group operates nearly 3,000 optometry, audiology and ophthalmology businesses globally in eight countries, including more than 1,200 in the UK, through hundreds of independent partners.
This year the company has paid a dividend to its parent company, controlled by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins, after not doing so last year, and shared more profits with store partners than it did in 2025.
The company celebrated 40 years in business in 2024.
‘It’d be easy to get wrapped up in these numbers – they’re certainly on an extraordinary scale,’ said the Perkins in the company’s annual report. ‘However, we like to focus on the meanings behind them – how our partners and colleagues come together every day to make a difference in their communities, and the ways in which people benefit from their unrivalled level of care and support.
‘We’re immensely proud of everything our people have achieved.’
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