Calida Group reports loss, sales drop

Total Calida Group sales from continuing operations were 160.2 million Swiss francs, down 2 percent, adjusted for currency effects. The company said, sales were negatively impacted by currency effects by 3.8 percent.

Calida suffered a loss of 15.1 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2023. The company posted an operating profit of 8.2 million Swiss francs, a 56.5 percent decrease. This produced an EBIT margin of 5.1 percent and adjusted EBITDA of 11.3 million Swiss francs. The operating result was 6.1 million Swiss francs, down 56.7 percent.

The group expects the challenging environment to continue and consumer sentiment to remain low. In line with this, Calida expects currency-adjusted sales and EBIT to underperform the strong prior-year results.

“In a market environment clouded by uncertainties, which significantly dampened consumer sentiment in many markets, the Calida Group achieved slightly lower sales compared to the previous year. Our brands Calida, Aubade and Lafuma Mobilier proved to be solid, mainly thanks to a loyal customer base that highly prizes our brands’ superior quality products. Sales of the acquired US lingerie brand Cosabella remained stable in the first half of the year thanks to positive developments in e-commerce,” said Felix Sulzberger, executive chairman of the Calida Group board.

Review of Calida’s first half performance

By brand, Calida contributed 72.2 million Swiss francs to group sales, a 7 percent currency adjusted increase. After a three-year run of sustained above-average growth, the company added, Aubade saw a decline in sales of 6.3 percent currency adjusted but sales were above pre-pandemic levels. Lafuma Mobilier generated sales of 37.1 million Swiss francs, a 27.6 percent decline currency adjusted. The brand is expected to return to its usual high profitability and positive growth as high inventories decline and the extensive investments in both e-commerce and international expansion gain traction.

Cosabella posted sales of 11.5 million Swiss francs, a slight decrease of 0.9 percent. E-commerce sales, while up by 21.9 percent, were unable to fully offset the sharp sales decline in the difficult wholesale channel, down 32.6 percent. The company further said that the persistently challenging environment severely hobbled the performance of recently acquired Erlich Textil, making the brand strategically unviable for the group to maintain.

The group’s online sales reached 49.8 million Swiss francs, a 28.3 percent increase currency adjusted, accounting for 31.1 percent of all sales from continuing operations. Revenues from the wholesale channel declined 21.6 percent, influenced by the decline at Lafuma Mobilier. Retail and, notably, space management outperformed prior-year sales by 3.5 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.