The chief executive officer of the Italian luxury group has been spearheading a no-markdowns policy and slashing wholesale accounts since last year, but he spelled out his aspirations to further raise the profile of the brand during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, commenting on first half results.
Prada in the period set in motion cost containment measures but, despite double-digit growth in June in the entire Asia Pacific region and triple-digit online sales growth during and after the global lockdowns, the closure of the group’s stores from February to May impacted its bottom line in the first half of the year.
Analysts, according to the Refinitiv’s Smarestimates consensus, expected a 35 percent drop in sales and a negative EBIT of 130 million euros. Bertelli expressed his pride in the “commitment and sense of responsibility demonstrated in these circumstances” by the group’s employees and “the excellent response of local consumers” once the stores reopened, contributing to a positive attitude during the call.
Lorenzo Bertelli, head of marketing and CSR, said the group saw triple-digit growth in its online channel across all markets and across all product categories. He said the online business was up 150 percent in the first half and reached a peak in June, climbing 300 percent. Thanks to the contribution of these markets, the entire Asia Pacific region reported double-digit growth in June, despite Hong Kong and Macau still being negatively affected by the lack of travel flows. Taiwan and China have been up 50 percent since July, said Patrizio Bertelli.
Bertelli said that the group had seen a better-than-expected recovery in Turkey and Russia, growing double-digit, and Germany. Europe was still feeling the lack of tourist flows.All the costs pertaining to the retail network during the closure period net of savings amounted to 112 million euros, or 18 percent of selling expenses that couldn’t generate revenues during the period.
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)
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