Nothing to be done, Damiani remains in the red, even if only slightly. You will say: but what does it matter to us? It matters, however. Because in Italy there are few large groups in the sector, or rather, practically none. The Piedmontese Damiani is one of the few companies trying to make its way among the French giants who like steamrollers buy jewelry (and luxury) brands as if they were bags of chips. Therefore, Damiani’s accounts are of interest to us.The result is encouraging, but there is a long way to go.
Let’s get to the positive news first: in the period in question, directly managed stores in Italy and abroad recorded overall revenues increasing by 24.1% at constant rates. Also because the number of shops has increased and, therefore, it is logical that revenues have also increased. With a general distinction: turnover recorded a good performance abroad, while in the Italian market, “always affected by the stagnation of consumption and general uncertainty, they showed a contraction”. It is not for nothing that the company pushes to open new stores in countries where the economy is thriving (it manages 52 direct sales points located in the main international luxury streets), while in Italy consumption stagnates. Despite this, however, Damiani notes that Italy has also seen an increase, albeit limited: +1.5% compared to 30 June 2012.
The accounts: the Damiani group grossed 33.1 million euros in the three months under review, compared to the 31.4 million recorded in the same period of the previous financial year, with a positive variation of 7.7% at constant exchange rates and 5.4%, at current exchange rates. In particular, revenues in the retail channel grew by 24.1%, at constant exchange rates and by 20.3% at current exchange rates.
Negative notes: Damiani will also sell more, but loses. The ebitda (let’s explain to those who don’t know anything about finance: it’s the gross profit, before taxes) of the group is negative for 572 thousand euros, although an improvement compared to the –1.1 million euros at 30 June 2012 The problem is that sales do not cover costs: the group’s operating result was negative (–1.3 million euros) and in the end the group’s net loss was 2 million euros. Let’s look at the positive side: last year on the same date the loss was 2.8 million. The fact is that Damiani must continue to invest in foreign markets, but this costs money. And so the debts increase, even if they are below the warning level threshold: liabilities have risen to 34.3 million euros compared to 33.0 million on 31 March 2013.
