Hugo Boss AG, a luxury fashion and style house based in Metzingen, Germany, backed its goal of attaining planned sales of 3 billion euro in 2015 at an investor day in Hong Kong where the Managing Board of the company was reporting the medium-term progress.
Hugo Boss has been able to avoid the effects of global economic slowdown on its sales. It expanded its operations to major cities of the world while increasing its retail activity, which is expected to generate 60 per cent of sales in 2015.
The company also reasserted its goal of endlessly improving profitability, despite thinning of margins owing to the investments being made by the Group in the last two years.
Apart from consistently expanding its store network, Hugo Boss plans to step up investments in brand communication towards the end consumer to accelerate Group’s growth. However, the Company said that it would no longer be able to achieve a 25 per cent EBITDA margin in 2015, adding that the goal could be achieved only after 2015.
Meanwhile, the company sees potential in strategic growth areas in Asia, especially in China, which could account for more than 20 per cent of the global luxury market by 2015. The Group has already begun investing in the perception of its brand and the appeal of its market presence in the region.
Commenting on the Company’s growth forecast, Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, CEO of Hugo Boss AG said, “In the last few years we have strengthened HUGO BOSS as a global brand and geared it more directly to consumers. Today, customers experience our brand world as even more high value. It is therefore the right decision to invest in the strength of our brands and distribution, thereby creating very good long-term growth prospects for the company.”
