MIX AND MATCH: Belinda Robertson, the society cashmere designer, had a tough time on the trading front in the latest financial year, official filings suggest, writes Mark Williamson.
Accounts for Robertson's wholesale arm, which supplies fancy woollens to upmarket stores, show it made a retained loss of [GBP]118,478 in the year ended March 31, 2005.
Robertson's retail arm, which operates shops in Edinburgh and London's chic Belgravia, managed to record a retained profit of [GBP]12,425 in the period.
However, this was not enough to wipe out a historic deficit on the profit and loss account of the company, which reported a "deficiency" in shareholders' funds of [GBP]50,937 at the period end.
The wholesale business reported a cumulative deficiency of [GBP]164,922. As both firms took advantage of the ability of smaller companies to make abbreviated filings, the accounts do not include further details of trading.
The fact that both had historic deficits may suggest Belinda Robertson has still to find the secret of how to combine critical acclaim with commercial success.
However, while declining to comment on her companies' finances, Robertson said: "We do not have any concerns."
A spokeswoman noted that during the current financial year Robertson had launched a collection called the White Label which had earned rave reviews and sold very well.
Robertson is married to Scotland's wealthiest corporate lawyer, Alastair Dickson, whose earnings topped [GBP]25,000 a week last year.
According to Legal Business magazine's annual survey of the UK's top 100 law firms, the publicity-shy head of Edinburgh corporate finance boutique Dickson Minto earned [GBP]1,320,000.
That return was bettered only by the highest-ranking partners at City of London giant Slaughter & May.
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