Hauser & Wirth’s UK subsidiary reported an 87 percent decline in pre-tax profit last year, according to a report by the Financial Times, which said the drop reflects the broader slowdown in the global art market.
According to newly filed accounts in the United Kingdom reviewed by the FT, profit before tax fell to $1.6 million in 2024, down from $12.5 million the previous year, as revenue dropped by more than half to $91.4 million, from $193 million in 2023. The gallery attributed the decline primarily to a sharp fall in secondary-market sales, through which Hauser & Wirth resells works by artists it may not represent. That segment, the filing noted, can fluctuate significantly year to year depending on a handful of high-value transactions.
The gallery, which represents artists including Frank Bowling, George Condo, and Cindy Sherman, operates 18 locations worldwide, including spaces in New York, Los Angeles, Menorca, and Hong Kong, as well as two in the UK, on Savile Row in London and at its Somerset campus. Hauser & Wirth said the UK entity represents only a small portion of its overall business and that global results for 2024 were “aligned” with the previous year’s “successful performance.”
The gallery’s founders, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, also own Artfarm Group, a hospitality business that runs the Fife Arms hotel in Scotland, the Groucho Club in London, and several restaurants. Artfarm’s accounts showed a wider pre-tax loss of $24 million in 2024, compared with $15.8 million a year earlier, even as turnover rose 16 percent. The group said it was in a period of “growth and capital investment,” expanding its restaurant and bar portfolio internationally.
The Groucho’s license was temporarily suspended in 2024 following a police investigation into a serious incident at the venue, though authorities did not implicate staff or members.
Hauser & Wirth’s financial results come amid a contraction across the art market. According to the 2025 Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, global art sales fell 12 percent to $57.5 billion last year, with the number of auction lots fetching more than $10 million plunging by 39 percent. Major dealers and auction houses have begun scaling back: Pace Gallery closed its Hong Kong space last week, while Almine Rech has shuttered its London gallery.
