Prada arises hopes within luxury stocks

In a session dominated by stocks trading in Asia,

Prada posted a 59.5 percent hike in net profit during the first half of the year while later Hong Kong-based Esprit registered a 11 percent fall in revenue, despite its highly bettered net profit.

Fashion retailer Esprit Holdings Ltd. said Wednesday it recorded a 10-fold surge in full-year net profit, lifted by one-off write-backs in provisions set aside for store closures as part of the company's transformation plans, reported Asian media.

The Hong Kong-listed company said its net profit for the year ended June 30 totaled 873 million Hong Kong dollars (112.6 million US dollars), up from 79 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 11% to 30.17 billion Hong Kong dollars from 33.77 billion.

The company recommended a final dividend of 15 Hong Kong cents. It didn't pay a final dividend in the year-earlier period.

Meanwhile, Tuesday Prada rose 1.2 percent to 59.95 Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong trading today. Earnings before interest and tax rose to 394.9 million euros (510 million dollars) in the six months ended July 31 from 253.4 million euros a year earlier, Prada said today. The average of five analysts’ estimates was for EBIT was 393.6 million euros. First-half sales increased 36 percent to 1.55 billion euros reported Bloomberg.

The earnings were released after markets closed. Luxury stocks in Europe fell after the report despite there were some exceptions such as Richemont, which was one of the winners at Zurich Stock Exchange.

Michael Kors – which has outperformed S&P 500 Index for 40 consecutive sessions - and Kenneth Cole were other stocks that had sound movements Tuesday, both crowning the corporate news chapter.