Bulgari on the way up

In comparison to the same period of the previous year, luxury group Bulgari recorded a turnover of 396.4 million Euro (-21.7% at current exchange rates and -28.9% at comparable exchange rates), an operating loss of 32 million Euro and a net loss of 40.5 million Euro. The directly from store own brands performed stronger than the wholesale channel, and went up 3.3% at current exchange rates compared to the same period of the previous year. The quarter just ended, progressively proved to be better than the first quarter 2009. Albeit the difficult market a profit was recorded in the month of June. All product categories continued to record a drop in sales during the second quarter. Jewellery posted a 24.7% drop; watches 36.2%; accessories 37.5% and perfumes 20.4%.

Through intensive de-stocking in the wholesale channel, Bulgari penalized sales performance during the second quarter. A partial exception is the perfumes category, which recorded a significant increase in orders from third party distributors, resulting that the division’s turnover in the month of June 2009 went up over June 2008.

All geographical areas in the second quarter as well posted a sharp slowdown in sales. The United States (-51.6%) and Japan (-42%) suffered downturns compared to the previous quarter. Europe posted an overall 22.7% decrease, improving slightly over the -25.5% of the first quarter. The directly owned stores recorded significant growth in the major countries during the period considered compared to the same period of the previous year, except for Spain.

Francesco Trapani, Chief Executive Office of the Bulgari Group, commented: “The results of the second quarter, which improved compared to the previous quarter and are particularly encouraging in terms of growing performance of the directly owned stores, demonstrate that Bulgari is basically attaining its cost control, investment and working capital goals that were previously announced and have been diligently pursued since the beginning of the year, and that the company’s product portfolio continues to meet the favour and taste of its customers."

Bulgari is one of the global players on the luxury market. In 2008 the Group posted a turnover of 1,075.4 million Euro. Bulgari relies on a exclusive stores network with 268 stores it the world of which 167 as directly owned stores.

Image: Bulgari monologo ring