Dyson’s profits fell sharply last year as a ‘necessary year of transformation’ was complicated by a factory fire and currency fluctuations. The electricals and tech manufacturer achieved a pre-tax profit of £561million in 2024, down from £1.1billion the year before, as revenues fell for the first time in 22 years.
Dyson said total revenues fell from £7.1billion to £6.6billion for the year, despite the group selling more than 20million units for the first time in its history. The British firm, which manufactures most of its goods in east and southeast Asia, blamed one-off factors including currency volatility and a factory fire in the Philippines that disrupted the supply of its beauty products.
Costs were also lifted by a redundancy programme and Dyson’s move away from direct retail towards wholesale partnerships. It also cited slower economic growth in 2024 and ‘reduced consumer confidence in some key markets’.
Hanno Kirner, Dyson’s chief executive, said 2024 was ‘a difficult but necessary year of transformation’. He added: ‘We saw sales volumes reach their highest levels but revenue down on the prior year, due to one-off issues.
‘We have increased the rate of product development, investing heavily in future products and technology, notably in robotics and wet floor cleaning.’
Headquartered in Singapore since 2019, Dyson announced plans to cut a third of its UK workforce earlier this year, blaming ‘increasingly fierce and competitive global markets’. The group currently employs roughly 2,000 UK workers among over 10,000 staff globally, down from 13,000 in March 2022.
Founder Sir James Dyson (pictured) said the group will continue to focus on innovation, spending £8million a week on research and development and ‘investing in our engineers of the future through the Dyson Institute’. He added: ‘Our investments are yielding exciting new products every year.’
‘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 hair dryer and vacuum cleaner formats.’
