OTB (Diesel) sees a 2% increase in 2015

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 4, 2016

For OTB (Only The Brave), 2015 was marked as another transitional year following an important restructuring of its parent company, Diesel, representing total sales of 65 percent. The restructuring including the cleaning of its wholesale network has resulted in a shortfall of 100 million euros, the company said in a news statement. 

The holding from Renzo Rosso, which, in addition its denim brand Diesel, also includes Marni, Maison Margiela and Viktor & Rolf, Diesel Kid, plus manufacturer Staff International in its portfolio, thus closed 2015 in line with 2014 (+2%) with 1.590 billion euros in revenue compared to 1.560 billion a year prior.

The groups earnings, however, were down with net earnings of 3.5 million euros compared to 5.5 million in 2014 (-36%), and a gross operating income of 74 million euros in 2015 compared to 117.4 million euros seen one year earlier (-37%).

Last year was particularly marked by the launch of its e-commerce Diesel site, which “registered a double number increase from its launch”, says the group in a news release, also recapping the renewal of its licencing agreement with Fossil’s turnover coming in at 200 million euros.
 
It is OTB’s luxury lines that permitted it to even out its business numbers, “with double digit growth”, says CEO Riccardo Stilli at MF Fashion. The 2014 arrival of John Galliano as Creative Director of Maison Margiela also saw sales grow 30 percent, says Renzo Rosso.