Profits at Dyson nearly halved during a “difficult” year in which the home appliances business, founded by the billionaire Sir James Dyson, cut more than a quarter of its UK workforce.
Dyson, which has been based in Singapore since 2019 in a move to “future proof” the company, said it had sold 20m products during the year, more than ever before.
But it still reported a fall in revenues of more than £500m to £6.5bn, according to accounts filed in Singapore.
Sluggish economic growth and flagging consumer confidence were compounded by one-off issues, the company said, including the strength of the pound against the currencies of economies in Asia, where it sells many of its products.
The bagless vacuum cleaner and hand dryer company also incurred one-off costs associated with a global reorganisation that included about 1,000 job cuts in the UK.
The result was a 47% plunge in pre-tax profit to £561m for 2024.
The company’s chief executive, Hanno Kirner, said 2024 had been a “difficult but necessary year of transformation” for the company. As well as axing staff, Dyson also slashed the annual dividend it pays to the family’s holding company.
The payout to Weybourne Holdings, which also houses the Dyson family’s fast-growing investments in agricultural land and farming, declined from £700m to £200m in 2024.
However, notes attached to the accounts reveal that Dyson has since topped up the payments with £225m of dividends spread over January and February of the current financial year.
Dyson founded the company in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, in 1991. While it makes most of its products overseas, it does most of its research, development and design of products in the UK, at the company’s facility in the town.
Amid criticism of his decision to move the company to Singapore, particularly in the light of his vocal support for Brexit, Dyson has previously said that the UK will remain a major research and development hub for the company.
The 78-year-old entrepreneur, is among the largest landowners in the UK after investing heavily in farming and cutting-edge food production, while two of his children, Jacob and Sam, are on the board of Dyson Holdings. All three are described as “permanent residents” of Singapore in corporate filings.
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The entrepreneur and his family came fourth in the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £20.8bn.
In a statement accompanying the results, Dyson pointed to new products launched in 2024, which include a “complete reinvention of the hairdryer” and a haircare-meets-styling range that uses chitosan, a plant-based polymer from oyster mushrooms.
He said: “We are hugely excited about our launches in 2025 and beyond, which bring significant innovations into people’s homes including new wet and dry floor-cleaning technology, robotic technology and purification technology, as well as complete reinventions of our hairdryer and vacuum cleaner formats.”
Products launched this year include the “slimmest vacuum in the world”, which has a diameter of 38mm.
In 2019, the company scrapped plans to build an electric car.