Swift has dipped into the red in its latest full year results, and has warned that it sees little prospect of a big improvement in caravan sales this year, while motorhome sales are storming ahead.
The Hull company is known for making some of the best caravans, such as the Swift Sprite Exclusive Quattro MB and the Sprite Exclusive Major 6 TD, the former of which was a winner at the Practical Caravan Awards 2025 and the latter highly commended.
Swift blamed the £4.08m pre-tax loss for the year to the end of August 2024 on the end of the post-pandemic surge in sales, economic uncertainty, and customers putting off purchase decisions until after the general election.
Final results also show that restructuring costs to deal with the economic changes and dealer defaults cost the company just over £3m.
The loss compares with a £13.18m pre-tax profit in the same period the year before. Total turnover dropped from £321.75m in 2022/3 to £300.94m last year.
Swift says its tourer division and its holiday homes business were the two areas most affected by a declining market. It believes it will continue to face challenges in 2025, “particularly in the touring caravan market whereby early indications do not highlight an immediate return to the demand witnessed in previous financial years”.
It has already had to make cost-saving initiatives to “right-size the company’s overhead base”.
This is in sharp contrast to the motorhome division, where sales volumes achieved in 2024 were the best in the company’s history.
The results from Swift follow the Trigano Group’s announcement that it expects little signs of growth in its caravan sales this year, while Knaus Tabbert also reported its revenue had dipped by a fifth.
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