Dyson invests £9m a week as global revenues top £7.1bn

Dyson is investing £9 million a week worldwide after bringing in record revenues of just over £7.1 billion last year.

Global revenues were up 9 per cent on the year before. Annual profit was also up by 9 per cent at £1.4 billion.

Over the year Dyson, which designs and manufactures its electricals and technology products, increased its research and development spending by more than 40 per cent, despite global headwinds. This brings its total investments, including capital expenditure, to more than £2 billion since 2021. Dyson is investing in artificial intelligence, robotics and proprietary new battery technology at its main research centres in Britain, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Products launched in 2023 included the Dyson Airstrait hair straightener, its robot vacuum the 360 Vis Nav and the Dyson Zone noise-cancelling headphones, which marked its entry into the audio and wearables market.

The company, founded in 1991, is planning its biggest range of product launches to date this year, including a big expansion in the beauty sector. The launches will include a Dyson Supersonic r hair dryer powered by a new, energy-dense heater technology.

Speaking at an event to launch the Dyson Airstrait in Paris, Sir James Dyson, 76, the company’s founder and chief engineer, said: “Despite all the headwinds — including a challenging economic environment, inflation, product shortages and the continuing impact of the 2022 closing of our Russia business — 2023 was a very good year, in which we made record investments in our technology, in new products and in the global resilience of the company. We are ahead of our investment plan and have launched radical new products. We are excited to get these products into people’s hands in 2024.”

In Britain, where it employs 3,700 people, Dyson’s £100 million investment in a new technology centre in Bristol is under way. The company says it will be home to “hundreds of software and AI engineers working on a pipeline of products that stretches ten years into the future, as well as the global technology company’s commercial and ecommerce teams for Great Britain and Ireland”.

Dyson’s advanced robotics teams at Hullavington airfield, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, is working alongside a growing team at its AI London laboratory and Dyson’s global HQ in Singapore.

The Dyson Institute in the UK, where undergraduates study for an engineering degree while earning a salary and paying no tuition fees, now has 156 students.