Victoria Beckham took home MORE cash from music than her fashion empire last year

Victoria Beckham took home more cash from music than from her fashion empire over the past tax year – despite not touring with her Spice Girls bandmates.

The singer-turned-designer’s music company Moody Productions brought in £3.3 million in the tax year ending December 2019, while her eponymous fashion firm was hit with pre-tax losses of £16.6 million.

While Victoria, 46, opted to sit out the last Spice Girls tour in 2019, she still raked in almost £1 million, as she was entitled to one-fifth of the takings for endorsements and deals generated by the tour, reports The Sun.

She raked in the tidy sum as bandmates Mel B, Mel C, Geri Horner and Emma Bunton hit the road without her for their national tour.

While her umbrella firm Beckham Brand Holdings boasts £14.5 million in dividends, the star netted £641,667 in director’s pay from her fashion firm, which calculates to be five times less than the money she took home from her pop career.

A source told The Sun: ‘Her beauty business is thriving and she is focusing on building that. It has been a hit with and they’ve been loving the fact it’s affordable.’

Added a spokesperson: ‘Like so many businesses, a challenging retail landscape coupled with the unforeseen effects of the coronavirus pandemic, has adversely impacted the Victoria Beckham business.’

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Victoria Beckham for comment. 

Like countless retail businesses across the country, the star’s Fashion company Victoria Beckham Ltd has suffered an impacting blow amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in May, Victoria abandoned plans to seek a government bailout to furlough 30 members of staff at her fashion brand following a major backlash.

The former singer, whose family is said to be worth £335 million, had planned to use the government’s scheme to pay 80 per cent of the wages of some of her staff.

Her fashion brand, which employs 120 people, sent letters to 30 members of staff warning them that they were going to be furloughed under the Government’s scheme for two months.

She told The Guardian at the time: ‘We will not now be drawing on the government furlough scheme. At the beginning of the lockdown the shareholders agreed with senior management to furlough a small proportion of staff.

‘At that point we didn’t know how long the lockdown might last or its likely impact on the business. The welfare of my team and our business means everything to me.’

It is understood the firm’s application would have cost taxpayers £150,000.

The firm denied the U-turn was a result of the public backlash and instead insisted the board ‘now believe that with the support of our shareholders, we can navigate through this crisis without drawing from the furlough scheme’.

In a statement, the company said: ‘Victoria Beckham Ltd has been working hard to protect its people and, while adjusting to the impact of COVID-19 and the government lockdown, our decision to furlough a small number of our staff seemed the most appropriate option in keeping with many other businesses.

‘The situation is dynamic, and, with the support of our shareholders, we now believe we can navigate through this crisis without drawing from the government furlough scheme.

‘Our application was made in the best interests of trying to protect our staff, and that is still our absolute focus. We are doing everything we can to ensure we can achieve that without using government assistance.’ 

Despite the news, Victoria and her husband David Beckham have still reaped the rewards of their empire as a separate company filing reveals they paid themselves £14.5 million in dividends.

Victoria’s fashion house also more than halved its losses on the year prior, according to a Companies House report from the year ending December 2019.

In the year before the coronavirus pandemic hit, it appears the couple enjoyed a bumper 12 months following success in both of their companies.

The couple relaxed the purse strings and took an increase of £3.4 million in dividends from David’s company compared to 2018.

David’s global brand management company DBVL is now is fully independent following the buyout of XIX Entertainment’s 33 per cent stake in 2019.

The company, which supports the David Beckham brand, enjoyed a revenue increase of £600,000 to £16.2 million for the year thanks to licensing and brand partnerships.

DBVL has long-standing partnerships with huge brands such as Adidas, Haig Club (Diageo), Tudor, Coty, insurance company AIA and hotel group Sands.

Throughout the year David’s brand launched DB Eyewear and production company  Studio 99, as well as the build-up to the launch of Inter Miami CF.

According to the report, David’s social media platform is the number one most followed and engaged social media account in the UK and continues to reach a global audience. 

Pre-tax profits were down to £11.3million from 14.8million, due to charitable donations to UNICEF, increased headcount to meet the growth of the business and adverse currency effects.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s luxury fashion label grew seven per cent (£2.5 million) in revenue to £38.3 million, driven by continued growth in the fashion business.

It will have also been aided by the launch of the Victoria Beckham Beauty brand in the last quarter of 2019.

The report states that ‘all channels’ grew in the fashion business, with the flagship Dover Street store performing strongly and achieving double-digit revenue growth.

As a result of the revenue growth and cost control, the fashion business more than halved its losses, from £10.5 million in 2018 to £4.6 million in 2019.

Directors continue to focus on taking the company to break even.

The report noted that since the year end (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted trading, with Victoria’s Dover Street store subject to lockdown restrictions, which has in turn impacted revenues.

However, over this period the company’s online operation saw positive year-on-year growth, including over 20% in the UK.

Internationally, the brand continues to grow with Europe up 36 per cent and Australia up 44 per cent. The Company also launched a homeware capsule which had 80 per cent sell-through within two weeks of launch.

With more than 50 million combined followers globally, Victoria Beckham’s social media platform has been key to driving product sales. 

In 2020, it drove 15 per cent of total traffic to the website and 10 per cent of revenue.

Victoria Beckham Beauty has continued to perform strongly in 2020. 

The brand has been recognised in the industry for both beauty and skincare, and has won twelve awards this year, most notably Vogue’s ‘Best New’ beauty brand and Glamour’s Beauty Awards in both the US and the UK. 

Meanwhile, Victoria’s bandmate Mel B recently insisted the girls are up for marking their 25th year ‘as soon as the rules allow it’.

With countless shows and tours cancelled and postponed over the past year thanks to the pandemic, the singer admitted it’s been tricky to put plans into motion, having reformed the group for a Spice World UK tour in 2019.

‘People need a bit of entertainment. Music brings people together. I would love it – as soon as the rules allow it, then yeah,’ Mel said, as reported the The Mirror last month.

She went on: ‘Until the virus gets under control I don’t think anyone can securely say “I’m definitely going on tour”.

‘When it comes to putting on a show or concert, I don’t know how people are going to do it without the proper guidelines and information, because things change on a weekly basis.

‘Us lot are definitely up for it – it’s just a case of timings and safety. I’m always itching to get back on to the stage.’

It’s thought that Mel has been coaxing Victoria to take part in marking Wannabe, after she opted not to tour with the group in 2019.

Whether Posh Spice would be up for more than a one-off is unsure, having ruled it out in the past.

This follows comments from Mel C that the band want to tour the US next, which they have not done since their 2008 reunion The Return Of The Spice Girls.

She told Access Hollywood: ‘We love being in the USA and have had so many great times there doing TV shows and promotional stuff. And we so want to get back there.

‘We do not have any plans, but we are hooking up quite soon and that needs ­certain discussion. We need things to look forward to and we can make good plans for something positive in the future.’

The singer admitted previously that it ‘would be rude’ not to celebrate their impressive milestone this year.

She said: ‘We had the most incredible year last year, playing stadiums and we have got to do it again. We talk about it all the time.

‘Of course [2020] has thrown everything into chaos, I think a lot of the big artists that were planning to perform this year will move to [2021].

‘So sadly it probably will delay the Spice Girls getting back on stage, but I’m doing everything in my power to make that happen.’

Victoria and her husband, former footballer David, have become a power couple in the celebrity world since tying the knot in 1999.

The couple share four children – sons Brooklyn, 21; Romeo, 18; Cruz, 15, and nine-year-old daughter Harper.