Apple’s retail arm feels sting of store closures as tech giant posts humble growth in UK accounts
Total turnover for Apple’s Retail UK, Europe and UK team climbed a humble two per cent to £2.3bn in 2021, with total operating profit up 24 per cent to £730m.
It comes as Apple Retail UK continued to see the impacts of the pandemic, with turnover at £972m compared to £1.1bn for 2020, as a result of store closures during the year.
Combined tax payments for the three entities hit £96m, compared to tax payments of £96m in FY20 and £91m in FY19.
The amount of tax paid was impacted by tax rates on share based compensation for Apple’s employees, with Apple’s share price performing strongly in the period, especially against the wider tech sell-off backdrop.
Commenting on the filing, an Apple spokesperson said: “We know the important role taxes play in society and always pay all that we owe everywhere we operate.
In addition to our tax payments, we are proud to be an engine of growth in the UK supporting more than 450,000 jobs across the country, through direct employment, our work with British suppliers and the thriving local iOS App Economy.”
The iOS app economy in the UK supports more than 440,000 jobs – a 21 per cent increase since 2020.
This currently makes the UK the leading provider of iOS app economy jobs in Europe where it has grown to support 2.2m jobs — a 7 per cent increase since 2021.
The number of combined employees for the three areas remained relatively flat, hitting roughly 7,048 year on year.