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Gucci CEO sees strong sales growth continuing |
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News |
May 24, 2000
MILAN, MAY 23 (AP) - Gucci Group announced better-than-expected than first-quarter sales Tuesday and its chief executive officer, Domenico De Sole, said the profitability trend is set to continue.
"Gucci is doing phenomenally well and in every product category," he said.
Gucci's first-quarter revenues rose to approximately dlrs 530 million from dlrs 270 million in the year-before period, boosted by strong sales in all regions. The group expects to post net income of dlrs 3.10 per share for 2000.
The fashion company also announced Tuesday it is buying perfume and watchmaker Boucheron.
"It is a great company with a tremendous heritage, it is a clean brand with no licenses and it is strong in watches and perfumes," he said. "But those businesses are underdeveloped. For example, they have no stores in the U.S. I think we can use our expertise in that."
Gucci also said Tuesday that its Yves Saint Laurent Couture unit has bought back two licensing agreements, one for jewelry and watches from Cartier and another for shoes from Schwartz and Benjamin. YSL will produce the product lines in-house, a move to restructure the fashion house.
"We've been terminating licenses to allow us to produce and distribute ourselves," De Sole said.
Analysts said the first-quarter numbers were better than expected.
"Beyond this flurry of announcements, the underlying growth shows that the business momentum is very strong," said Sagra Maceira De Rosen, an analyst at J.P. Morgan.
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