Although the mood has been described as brighter for the luxury watch industry, Bulgari is said to be doing it tough.We read in the Financial Times that the group fell to a net loss of €47.1m (US$63.9m) in 2009 from a profit of €82.9m in 2008. Sales of watches were down 24.5 percent, jewellery was down 14.4 percent, perfumes slid by 14.9 percent and accessories by 27.2 percent.
Bulgari’s CEO, Francesco Trapani, said he expects Bulgari to produce higher turnover this year, but “there will not be a real recovery before the second half of 2010 and, in terms of absolute value, it will not be back to the levels of 2007 before 2011-12”.
Trapani also said, “Customers are now more cautious and demanding in spending, and a logo is not enough any more to justify a high price.”
An interesting finding in this article was that “sales in directly owned stores were stronger in China, South Korea and Australia.” We thought it was good that Australia was mentioned as a positive performing country, as our results are often amalgamated into Asia Pacific results.
Ironically on the same day, we found an article in the Financial Times (entitled Swiss Watchmakers Wind Up For A Brighter Year) with more proof that watch exports are recovering. So perhaps things will also brighten for Bulgari, but then again, wasn't the CEO of Swatch Group recently rumoured to be eyeing the Italian brand for a potential buyout? (Click here for our earlier report).
Image credit: lussori.com.
