David and Victoria Beckham have paid themselves £21m in dividends from their business over the past two years, according to reports.
The accounts filed with Companies House showed that a £14.5m dividend was paid to the famous pair in 2019 and £7.1m was handed over in 2020.
The most recent amount went to the couple after they bought the 33% stake in David Beckham Ventures Limited that had been owned by XIX Entertainment, a media group run by Simon Fuller.
The company manages the former footballer’s global brand rights.
Pre-tax profits at the business dropped to £11.m in 2019 from £14.8m the year before.
David and Posh Spice paid themselves £21m in dividends over the past two years (Image: davidbeckham/Instagram)
The profits dropped due to increased costs in expanding the business, falls in the pound against foreign currencies and a £1m donation to the UN agency, Unicef, where David is an ambassador.
Posh Spice’s fashion business saw pre-tax losses grow from £12.5m in 2018 to £16.6m in 2019.
Victoria Beckham Holdings Limited, owned by Beckham Brand Holdings, XIX Entertainment and NEO Investment Partners – a private equity firm – launched a cost-cutting programme last September.
The group said it had breached the financial covenants of a loan with HSBC last year, which led to shareholders injecting £9.2m to settle the debt.
The couple bought a large 33% stake in David Beckham Ventures, leading to the company going fully independent (Image: victoriabeckham/Instagram)
Sales at the fashion label increased £2.5m to £38.3m in 2019, but it continued to lose money and didn’t 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.
David and Victoria with their four children at their Cotswolds home (Image: Instagram)
“Over this period the company’s ecommerce operations saw positive year-on-year growth.”
It added sales were boosted in the final three months of 2019 by the launch of the Victoria Beckham Beauty brand.
The retailer’s flagship Dover Street store in London also saw double-digit revenue growth.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
