Prada powers on with healthy profit
The Asia-Pacific market continues to be its pillar, contributing 35 per cent to total revenue
Italian fashion house Prada achieved robust growth of nearly 50 per cent in net profit for the nine months to October on strong demand from Asia.
The luxury leather goods maker said net profit from February to October rose to €409 million (HK$4.15 billion) from €273 million a year ago, beating analysts' estimates. Sales revenue increased 35 per cent to €2.34 billion for the period, with the Asia-Pacific market contributing the most to the performance, the company said last night.
"Prada has outperformed (the market) for the three quarters. We expect it to perform better than peers due to its under-penetration, high advertising and promotion spend, retail expansion and more fashion positioning," said Tanuj Shori, an analyst at Nomura Hong Kong.
"We do anticipate some momentum slowdown in North America, while Europe and Italy should do well on the back of tourist flows," he said.
The Milan-based company, which owns Miu Miu, Church's and Car Shoe, said revenue for the three months to October was €792 million, up 33 per cent.
The Asia-Pacific continued to be the pillar of the company's business, contributing €815 million, or 35 per cent, to the total revenue for the nine months.