Income Drops 86.5%, Sales 14.8% At Calida

Calida Group, the Swiss firm that owns both the Calida and Aubade underwear and intimates brands, reported net income in the first half of 2015 dropped 86.5% to 700,000 Swiss francs, CHF, (about $728,703) at current exchange rates) while sales fell 14.8% to 168.1 million CHF (about $175 million).

In the first half of last year the firm reported net income of 5.2 million Swiss francs (about $5.4 million) on sales of 197.4 million Swiss francs (about $205.5 million).

The company emphasized that its “financial statement for the first half of 2015 was strongly marked by currency movements, which had been primarily caused directly and indirectly by the abandonment of the minimum exchange rate for the euro against the Swiss franc.” It added that according to its estimates, “adjusted for currency effects, the reduction in net sales was 4.8%.”

Looking ahead at the full year, the firm stated, “Considering these developments, the Calida Group’s working assumption, as already announced in March this year, is that it will report a noticeably lower result for the current business year, but nonetheless still a very solid one.”

Calida explained that it “generates more than 75% of its net sales in the euro zone. The share of the Swiss franc in net sales is now a mere 15%. The overall impact of the developments in the parity of the Swiss franc and U.S. dollar relative to the euro along with the weak consumer markets in the first half of the year” were all factors that led to the 14.8% reduction in net sales expressed in Swiss francs.

Calida, which over the past couple of years took over the Lafuma Group, a producer of surfing, skiing, climbing and other outdoor products, noted that not all of its five divisions were “affected to the same extent by currency turbulences and consumption weakness. Once again, the Calida Division, the parent brand and also the largest division in the Group, proved to be very resilient. Practically all of its CHF 4.6 million reduction in net sales, down to CHF 55.5 million, is to be ascribed to the influence of the euro. At constant exchange rates, the decline in net sales is only 1%.”

The company reported that its other intimates division, Aubade, “posted a 2% fall in net sales to 26.4 million euros in a very weak consumer market. In this, Aubade’s principal market, France, was particularly weak.”

In concluding its report, Calida stated, “Traditionally, the first half of the year brings lower sales and less profit for the Calida Group. The operational integration of the Lafuma Group was virtually completed during the first half of the year. Taking everything into consideration, it is to be assumed that the second half of 2015 will see a business development comparable with the first half and also higher profitability due to seasonal effects.”