[vc_row njt-role-user-roles=”administrator,armember”][/vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][vc_column_text]On Wednesday, September 30, the women’s ready-to-wear brand released its financial results for the first half of 2020, which has been affected by the global pandemic. With 2.6 million euros in losses, the luxury house has had to face heavy consequences on its activity, but proves to us that it is not going to stop there and aims to become one of the players in 2021 in recovery.
The women’s luxury house, with the unique positioning of its creations and its pure style, has been heavily impacted on its various activities, following the decree of March 16, 2020 forcing all Parisian boutiques to close their doors, as well as partner boutiques.
For the retail activity, it is a decrease of 62% between March 16 and May 12, 2020. If we compare the turnover for this first half year, it shows a decrease of 2,524 K euros compared to last year.
Gross margins decreased accordingly, with a difference of 1,981 K euros between the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2019, i.e. 53.1% compared to 64.3% last year, a difference of -11.2 points.
The overall result of the Group’s activity is clearly insufficient in relation to the expected effect, and was not able to absorb the company’s expenses.
Current operating income shows a loss of 2.4 million euros compared to 1.4 million euros the previous year.
Due to the containment period, suppliers also had to halt their current deliveries and postpone them. The luxury house saw its wholesale revenue from its Summer 2020 collections decline by 24.7% compared to June 30, 2019. The Group’s share of net profit decreased by -2.6 million euros, compared to -2.2 million euros for the same period last year.
Marketing and administrative expenses for the luxury house also decreased as all sales and releases of the new collections came to a halt. They amounted to 4 million euros this first half year, compared to 5.1 million euros the year before, a decrease of 21.5%.
This decline is justified by the closure of the boutique in rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré and mechanical slowdowns during the confinement period.
The various state aids have been a lifeline to support activity, notably with the PGE (State Guaranteed Loan) and the implementation of short-time working measures. In April 2020, the Group was able to obtain a loan amounting to 2.250 million euros, and still has equity of 3.2 million euros.
After catching its breath, Barbara Bui has put in place its recovery for the year 2021 and did not wait to start it, since the Group has just invested in a new point of sale in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The company’s next objective is to reduce its fixed costs by moving all its premises to a single warehouse, where it will have access to the administrative offices, the creative studio and the workshop. The luxury house plans to achieve this goal by the end of 2020, in its current logistics warehouse located in Vitry-sur-Seine.
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Featured photo: © Barbara Bui[/vc_column_text]
