Hauser & Wirth's UK subsidiary reported an 87% decline in pretax profit for 2024, falling to $1.6 million from $12.5 million the previous year, as revenue dropped by more than half to $91.4 million. The gallery attributed the downturn to a sharp fall in secondary-market sales, which can fluctuate significantly based on a few high-value transactions. The UK entity represents only a small portion of the gallery's global business, which the founders said remained aligned with the prior year's successful performance. Separately, the gallery's hospitality arm, Artfarm Group, posted a wider pretax loss of $24 million despite a 16% rise in turnover.
The results reflect the broader contraction in the global art market, which saw sales fall 12% to $57.5 billion in 2024, according to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Major dealers and auction houses have been scaling back, with Pace Gallery closing its Hong Kong space and Almine Rech shuttering its London gallery. Hauser & Wirth's financial disclosure underscores the pressures facing top-tier galleries as the post-pandemic market boom recedes and high-value transactions become rarer.