Van de Velde: earnings burdened by Intimacy

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Sep 1, 2014

Having announced a rising consolidate turnover in early July, Van de Velde published more nuanced results in late August. The Belgian lingerie company announced that its consolidated turnover has increased by 10.3% (107 million euros), or 9.4% on a comparable basis (excluding early deliveries for autumn-winter 14). While its brands (PrimaDonna, Andres Sarda, Marie Jo) and its European retailer Rigby & Peller performed well, the poor performance of its American chain Intimacy has weighed on the group’s results.

With a 22.7% fall in turnover for Intimacy (sixteen stores in the United States), the value of the retail chain has declined. These numbers have burdened the company’s overall profits in the first half. Excluding the exceptional negative impact of Intimacy, the company’s EBITDA rose to 32.3 million euros, an increase of 19.2%. Recurring profits, meanwhile, rose from 19.9 million to 21.3 million euros. But taking into account the negative results of the chain, profits have tumbled by 75%.

For the second half and the fall-winter 14 season, the group is optimistic and expects a further increase in its turnover, but lower than the first half, as the spring-summer 14 was boosted by the launch of the swimwear line PrimaDonna. REBITDA is also expected to continue in a positive direction, but the group has not commented on the performance of Intimacy and its possible impact during the second half of the year.