Businesses created by Happy Pear twins, David and Stephen Flynn are in line “to generate a small profit for this year”.
That is according to Finance Director for the Happy Pear, Paul Murphy who was commenting on new accounts which show that the Flynns’ firm, Flynn & Flynn Global Trade Ltd recorded a post tax loss of €502,110 last year.
In what he described as “a challenging year for the Happy Pear”, Mr Murphy stated that total revenues for the business fell by 29 per cent to €6.74 million.
Mr Murphy stated that the operating loss for the year was €66,156 which he said “was a significant improvement on the 2019 operating loss of €285,447”.
He stated that the €502,110 loss for 2020 includes exceptional costs associated with site closures, restructuring and financing.
Redundancy costs
The accounts show that redundancy costs totalled €128,699 with a €180,000 cost associated with a capital reduction while non-cash property write-downs totalled €61,841.
The Covid-19 impact resulted in all four Happy Pear retail sites shutting down, and only one has reopened since at the brand’s flagship store at Greystones.
Mr Murphy said: “Both our Clondalkin Round Tower site and our franchise site in Dublin airport have been permanently closed as not being commercially viable with the enduring social distancing rules combined with the reduction in tourist activity.”
Mr Murphy said: “As a result of the challenges faced due to the Covid pandemic and the resultant closure of two retail sites, the company was required to reorganise its structure and rationalise the business."
This resulted in redundancies and numbers employed reducing from 119 to 97.
Mr Murphy stated that the Happy Pear hopes to reopen its Shoreline leisure centre store in 2022 but added “we do not envisage opening new retail stores”.
Mr Murphy said: “The company is on a sound financial footing with cash on hand at year-end of €1.2 million.”
'Milestone events'
Mr Murphy stated that the business also recorded “a number of significant positive milestone events” in 2020.
He said: “With the migration of people online, we increased focus on the online courses side of our business and successfully doubled revenue to €1.7 million.”
He said that during 2021, “we have continued to work closely with our partners Musgrave to increase the range of Happy Pear products available nationwide through Supervalu and Centra stores and now have a range of 55 fantastic plant-based products and have
exciting plans for more new products to come in 2022”.
Mr Murphy said: “The future for The Happy Pear remains bright as more consumers move to a Vegan, Vegetarian or Flexitarian diet across all ages and social categories. The strong pipeline of new products for 2022 and beyond will provide great options to service this consumer trend into the future.”
Happy Pear App
He revealed that the company “is in the process of launching a new mobile app The Happy Pear App where we will bring together recipes, lifestyle content, a vibrant community and our courses in a fantastic, accessible platform”.
Last year, the company received €237,125 in Government Covid wage supports.
