Brunello Cucinelli grows at steady, double-digit pace in first half of 2017

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jul 17, 2017

Brunello Cucinelli continues to grow at a steady pace as of 30th June 2017, confirming a revenue rise of around 10%, as it did in the first quarter of the year. In publishing the first half of the year's preliminary results, the Italian luxury cashmere label reported a revenue of €243.3 million, up 10.7% at current exchange rates (+9.7% at constant exchange rates).

The result allows group founder and CEO Brunello Cucinelli to look forward to the rest of the year with optimism, seeing also the satisfactory results of the ongoing sales campaign for the Summer 2018 menswear collection and the success of the new, internally managed website. "We can confidently state that we will grow in double figures in 2017, both in terms of revenue and of profits," he stated.

The group's sales have notably risen steadily on overseas markets, which account for more than 82.8% of Cucinelli's total revenue. Starting from North America, Cucinelli's most important market - representing 34.4% of its total sales - which generated a revenue of €83.6 million, up 9.4% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Sales in Europe, a market which accounts for nearly one third of the group's revenue, instead grew 9.9% to €75.2 million, as Cucinelli reached out to "young new clients," searching for "products with a sophisticated feel."

The label notably skyrocketed in Greater China, where it was already distributed via monobrand stores, and is now also available at multibrand retailers. In the first six months of the year, China's revenue jumped 34.6% to €18.4 million. This market now accounts for 7.5% of total sales, compared to 6.2% a year earlier.

Finally, Italy is also on the upswing, continuing its recovery with a 5.9% rise in sales to €41.8 million in the first six months, driven by affluent foreign customers, especially from Asia and the Middle East. The domestic market accounts for 17.2% of Brunello Cucinelli's total sales, and its importance was emphasised at the start of the year by the opening of the label's largest store worldwide, on Milan's prestigious via Montenapoleone.

In the first half of 2017, there still was a marked gap between sales from directly owned stores and the rest of retail distribution, a gap which widened as Brunello Cucinelli took direct control of five shop-in-shops in the Canadian department store Holt Renfrew, which were formerly managed in franchising.

Direct retail sales in fact jumped 21.7%, reaching €121.1 million. The group also highlighted the growth in comparable sales, which between 1st January and 3rd July 2017 was 4%.

Sales to multibrand clients and department stores increased by 6.7% to €104.6 million, while those to franchised stores were relatively stable, growing by 2.7%, to €17.6 million.

The network of Cucinelli branded stores has risen in total to 123 shops as of 30th June 2017, compared to 122 a year earlier. Of these stores, 91 are directly operated.