(Filed Under wholesale Lingerie News). Worldwide sales at the two lingerie brands, Calida and Aubade, rose slightly in 2016; operating profit ticked up a bit for the former and plummeted for the latter.

Meanwhile, combined sales for parent company Calida Group dropped 8.8% in the U.S.

At the Calida lingerie division, worldwide sales went up 1.9%, from 128.2 million Swiss francs to 130.6 million Swiss francs (about $131.5 million at current currency conversion rates). “After adjusting for currency movements, the rise was 1.1%,” according to the annual report. “Despite the higher spending on modernizing the brand, operating profit contribution went up” from 35.6 million Swiss francs to 36.0 million Swiss francs (about $36.1 million), an increase of 1.2%.

At Aubade, “sales increased from EUR 53.4 million to EUR 53.5 million [about $57.4 million]. Operating profit contribution was down 9.6% from EUR 14.4 million” to EUR 13.0 million (about $13.9 million).

For Swiss-based Calida Group as a whole (which also includes divisons that sell ski and mountain wear, outdoor furniture and surf gear), net income fell to 14.8 million Swiss francs (about $14.8 million) on higher sales of 381.6 million Swiss francs (about $382.7 million) in 2016, compared to net income of 17.0 million Swiss francs on sales of 368.5 million Swiss francs in 2015.

It was not a good year for the Calida Group in the U.S. Combined sales dropped 597,000 Swiss francs, or 8.8%, to 6,182,000 Swiss francs (about $6.2 million) from 6,779,000 Swiss francs in 2015.

The group’s annual report described challenges to its Calida lingerie division: “The appreciation of the Swiss franc, and especially the fact that its strength encourages Swiss consumers to shop abroad, continues to hamper the brand, which generates more than 40% of its sales in its Swiss home market. Despite this negative influence, Calida achieved a very good result, especially in comparison with its competitors. Measures to strengthen the brand among key account customers in Switzerland and to optimize the retail network of over 130 Calida stores are progressing well. Sales through Calida’s own e-commerce platform, a strategic focus point, increased by 26.6% and reached 2.7% as a share of overall sales.”

“For Aubade,” the annual report continued, “2016 brought targeted changes in the management of sales areas at key account customers in France. One of these changes entailed a switch to a consignment model for its largest retail customers. This required a stock buy-back and had a one-off negative effect on sales and profitability in the first half of the year; but thanks to skilled sales area management, it led to higher sales and earnings in Aubade’s own retail operation right from the start. Aubade invested substantially in marketing during the year under review, as well as in focusing the collection and in innovations to push international growth and increase the appeal of the brand in foreign markets. The best example of this is the very successful cooperation with French designer Christian Lacroix, who created an exclusive range of lingerie for Aubade. The range proved successful all over the world and made a very positive contribution to the development of the brand. The difficult operating environment mentioned above certainly affected France as a direct victim of terror attacks. Unemployment rates and the political situation also led to insecurity in the French market. This had a direct impact on Aubade, since two thirds of its sales are in France. Expectations were not met in the first half year, but the brand then gained market share thanks to the introduction of sales promotion measures and a strong fall/winter collection. The EUR 1.1 million decline in sales in the first half of the year was made up for in the second.” — NM

more wholesale Lingerie News >>

Published 03-16-2017 by Nick Monjo