Safilo Group announces its results for the first nine months of the year

13/11/2006
Another quarter of strong growth in sales and improvement of net profit (+83% compared to 2005).

Main economic indicators for the first nine months of 2006.

 Group’s consolidated turnover: € 843,6 million (+8,6% compared to 2005)
 EBITDA: € 128,1 million (+0,5% compared to 2005)
 Net Profit: € 29,1 million (+83% compared to 2005)
 Net debt: € 512 million ( € 479 million at the end of 2005)
 Shareholders’ Equity: € 853 million ( € 827 million at the end of 2005)


Padova, 13th November 2006 – The Board of Directors of Safilo Group Spa today reviewed and approved the consolidated results relating to the third quarter of 2006 which show further improvement on the already positive results achieved in the first half of the year.

Main consolidated results

The Group’s turnover for the first nine months of 2006 amounts to Euro 843,6 million, an increase of 8.6% compared to the 776,7 million Euro registered in the first nine months of 2005. At constant exchange rates the increase in sales is 7.8%.
The excellent results of the first nine months of the financial year have been achieved thanks to the good sales performance of the company’s licensed products, and to the significant growth in turnover of the Group’s house brand products (+13.8%), a clear sign of the effectiveness of the house brand re-launch strategies. The Italian and American markets, with respective increases of 13.3% and 12.4%, showed the greatest sales performances.
A 10.8% increase in revenues compared to the same period of the previous year has led to particularly impressive results in the third quarter. At constant exchange rates the increase is of 13.5%. This improvement in sales confirms the positive reception by the end consumer of the Group’s collections, and is the result of a positive economic climate in general and increased production capacity.

Operating profit has grown with EBITDA reaching 128,1 million Euro compared to 127,4 million Euro in the first nine months of 2005. This improvement has been achieved thanks to an extremely positive third quarter (EBITDA +12.5% compared to 2005), driven by admirable sales results and the first effects of the industrial level cost containment policies.
The incidence of financial costs has also been considerably reduced owing to the company’s more balanced financial structure.

Net profit for the first nine months of the year has risen considerably: +83% (equal to 29,1 million Euro compared to 15,9 million Euro in 2005), thanks also to the net profit generated in the third quarter of the year which amounted to 7,3 million Euro against the 0,5 million Euro of the previous year.

The increase of the Group’s financial position compared to the beginning of the year and resulting from the normal seasonal nature of working capital, reflects the necessity to finance the Group’s considerable growth in sales.

On 9th November the Group acquired the retail chain Loop Vision which includes 61 sales points in Spain, one of the fastest growing markets in Europe, and is considered to be one of the leading distribution realities in the luxury sector. The cost of this acquisition is around 23 million Euro.

Vittorio Tabacchi, Chairman of Safilo Group, while commenting on the results, declared: “The third quarter provides further confirmation of the positive results already achieved in the first six months of the year. The sales strategy to compensate for the termination of the Ralph Lauren licence is producing better than expected results, confirming the Group’s strength independently of any single brand. The new collections Hugo Boss and Marc by Marc Jacobs were extremely well received by the market and this leads us to foresee a 2007 of further growth both in turnover and profitability”.

With reference to the commitment undertaken by the company during the listing process and as indicated in the Information Prospectus, work is continuing in IT sector in order to implement the automatic connection of the Group’s administrative software with the aim to integrate more than 75% of the Group’s companies information systems by the end of the year.

Meeting with financial analysts

Today at 14:30 (local time) a conference call with financial analysts and investors will take place, during which the Group’s economic and financial results will be illustrated. It will be possible to follow the conference call by dialling +39 02 802 09 11 and stating the call’s title “Safilo Group Q3 results”.



The Safilo Group is the leader in premium eyewear and maintains a leadership position in the sector of prescription, sunglasses, fashion and sports eyewear. Present on the international market through exclusive distributors and 28 subsidiaries in primary markets (U.S.A., Europe and Far East), Safilo distributes proprietary branded collections Safilo, Carrera, Smith, Oxydo, Blue Bay, as well as licensed branded collections, including Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta, Boss Hugo Boss, Boucheron, Diesel, 55DSL, Dior, Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Imatra, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Max&Co. (in 2007), Oliver, Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent. In addition, the following collections are exclusively for the American market: Fossil, Juicy Couture, Nine West, Kate Spade, Saks Fifth Avenue, Liz Claiborne, J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez and A/X Armani Exchange.


Contacts:
Safilo press office
Nicoletta Chinello
Tel. +39 049.69.85.379

Community consulenza nella comunicazione Tel. +39 0422.416.111 - 02.89.40.42.31
Auro Palomba – Cell. +39 335.71.78.637
Giuliano Pasini - Cell. +39 335.60.85.019
Marco Rubino – Cell. +39 335.65.09.552

Last update: 20/07/2010, 12:23