Thanks to a recovery in activity in Asia and North America in the second half of the year, the French luxury group managed to limit the decline in its sales and profitability in 2020.
The group’s flagship brand, Gucci, saw its activity decline by 22.7% in 2020, to 7.4 billion euros. / Credit: AFP.
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The French luxury group Kering, which owns the Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta brands, limited the decline in sales and profitability in 2020, thanks to a recovery in activity in Asia and North America. “In a year of upheaval, Kering has shown great resilience and remarkable agility. We come out of the crisis strengthened and ready to take advantage of the recovery ”, estimated the CEO of the group, François-Henri Pinault, quoted in a press release published on February 17.
The group’s turnover amounted to 13.1 billion euros, down 17.5% over the year, a drop similar to that suffered by the global giant LVMH. In total, Kering maintained a profit in 2020 at 2.15 billion euros. After a start to the year marked by store closures and the cessation of tourist flows, “Trends improved in the second half of the year” due “Good momentum in Asia-Pacific and North America” and also “A very strong acceleration of e-commerce of nearly 70%”, greeted the CFO, Jean-Marc Duplaix, during a conference call.
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If the luxury group does not give quantified prospects for 2021, it believes that “While the current context is still marked by many uncertainties, the crisis has not called into question the structural engines of growth in the world luxury market, and has fully confirmed the relevance of its strategy”.
Its flagship brand Gucci, which had approached 10 billion euros in sales in 2019, saw its activity fall by 22.7% in 2020, to 7.4 billion. The smaller Yves Saint Laurent (1.7 billion euros in sales, -14.9%) saw a return to growth in the second half of the year, notably thanks to markets in Asia-Pacific, North America and Japan. The Bottega Veneta house is one of the few to experience growth over the year, with a 3.7% increase in sales, to 1.2 billion euros.
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