FORMER Apprentice winner Dr Leah Totton saw revenues at her cosmetic skincare clinics soar to almost £900,000 last year.
The successful Derry native won the BBC business competition in 2013 with a plan to launch a Botox empire of cosmetic clinics – and hasn’t looked back.
Dr Totton’s win resulted in Lord Sugar parting with £250,000 to invest in the business.
Sugar has admitted it was the promised high profit margins that persuaded him to choose Dr Totton.
The 28-year-old has delivered on her promise, with Dr Leah Ltd recording a 4% increase in pre-tax profits to £252,153 in the 12 months to the end of June 30 last. This followed the firm recording a pre-tax profit of £242,311 the year before.
New accounts show that the hike in profits last year followed revenues increasing by 26.5% – going from £706,926 to £893,911.
That came on the back of Dr Totton opening up a second clinic in Essex last year.
She said that the business in the current year “is exceeding all financial targets and set for a record breaking year of sales”.
Asked if she had any plans to open up a clinic in Northern Ireland or the Republic, she said: “A clinic in Ireland has always been a personal aim of mine.”
Dr Totton and Lord Sugar each hold a 50% shareholding in the company and last year they shared a £100,000 dividend, after a dividend payout of £150,000 in 2015.
“It has been an excellent year of sales with very healthy profits which saw us open our second clinic location in Essex and saw our flagship Dr Leah clinic win the national prize for best clinic in London,” said Dr Totton.
She said that she is “absolutely delighted with the growth and success of the business to date as demonstrated by how profitable we are as such a young company”.
Customers to the Dr Leah clinics pay £6,000 for hair transplants, while a liquid facelift costs £600. Those seeking lip enhancements at Dr Leah’s clinics pay £300, or £370 if customers want her to apply the enhancement personally.
They can pay between £199 and £350 for Botox ‘Area’ Treatments. Customers can also expect to pay £650 for a 3D Bespoke Fat Reduction.
The accounts confirm Dr Leah’s forecast that the business would provide handsome profit margins, with the firm recording gross profits of £718,610 as cost of sales totalled £175,301.
The firm recorded post-tax profits of £203,794 after paying tax of £48,359.
Tags: