Theo Paphitis retail empire has battled “challenging” conditions to post sales growth at two key brands, but the entrepreneur said the Government is still not doing enough to help the high street.

Documents filed to Companies House revealed that hardware store Robert Dyas and stationer Ryman both increased sales in the year ending 30 March 2019.

Accounts for Boux Avenue, the Dragons’ Den star’s lingerie chain, were overdue at the time of writing. 

In his strategic review for the Ryman accounts, Mr Paphitis lashed out at the Government’s response to the high street crisis.

“The lack of reform and focus on this by Government and other authorities continues to frustrate us and puts at risk one of the key sectors for the UK economy,” he said.

He added that some Ryman stores had closed during the period due to “disproportionately high” business rates or a failure to renegotiate with landlords.

Improving performance for Robert Dyas

Despite the challenges weighing on the industry,  Robert Dyas made it back into the black last year, with a pre-tax profit of £30,000 compared to a £918,000 loss posted a year earlier.

The business said it had introduced partnerships with DHL and Western Union to help drive footfall to stores, as well as investing in improving its online operations.

It also appeared to be muscling in on the territory of Timpson, saying a trial of offering key-cutting in its stores had gone well and it would roll out the idea further.

Robert Dyas’ sales improved to the tune of a 6.3 per cent rise, pushing revenue to £131.8m for the year. On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 5.6 per cent, which was twice as fast as growth in the prior year.

This was mostly down to a 47.9 per cent jump in online sales.

Having moved Robert Dyas to a new online platform, Mr Paphitis said the same would be done for Ryman early this year.