Armani sees sales bounce back in first half of 2021

Giorgio Armani reported a 34 percent growth in sales in the first half of 2021 as the Italian fashion powerhouse bounces back to profitability.

On Sunday Chairman and CEO Giorgio Armani said in a statement: “The goal is to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, (the business took) over 2 billion euros in direct consolidated revenues.”

China and the US were integral to the rebound, although the company doesn’t expect a full recovery to happen until next year, offsetting pandemic losses of 25 percent to 1.6 billion euros in the first half of 2020.

“The drop in revenues in 2020 should be read not only as a consequence of the pandemic, but also in line with Giorgio Armani’s own strategic principle of ‘less is more’,” said Armani Deputy Managing Director Giuseppe Marsocci.

Armani reports strong sales growth

According to Reuters, the Milan-based group did not give the value of total sales in January-June but said the positive sales trend so far this year pointed to a much better profitability scenario for 2021. In 2020 the group made a consolidated net profit of 90 million euros but an operating loss (EBIT) of 29 million euros.

It also said on Sunday that its financial position improved significantly in the first half with net cash and cash equivalents of 1.088 billion euros “ensuring the financial resources necessary for the Group’s medium to long-term stability and growth”.

At the start of the pandemic Mr Armani was one of the fist designers to respond, canceling his runway presentation during Milan Fashion Week. The company donated millions of euros to Italy’s hospitals and transformed its production plants to make single-use medical overalls, even converting the company’s corporate gym into a Covid-19 testing space for nasal swabs.