Safilo’s Q1 2021 net sales reached Euro 251.4 million, up 20.0% at constant exchange rates compared to Q1 2020, the first to be hit by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More meaningfully, Q1 2021 net sales also grew compared to the same quarter of 2019, up 6.0% at constant exchange rates, thanks to the strong performance of the Group’s own brands and core licenses, and to the significant contribution of the new brands in the portfolio effectively compensating the licenses terminated at the end of last year.
The positive sales performance of the period was again largely driven by the United States and by a better than expected contribution from the newly acquired ecommerce business, which, coupled with the growth of Smith’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) channel, boosted Safilo’s total online business to 13% of its net sales from 5.9% in Q1 2020.
As anticipated, CX were the other strong positive contributors of the quarter, while Europe resulted overall soft as still penalized by the persisting retail restrictions in a number of markets and distribution channels.
From an economic standpoint, the positive sales development, coupled with the ongoing cost containment actions and the leaner overheads cost structure deriving from the structural savings achieved by the Group in recent years, led Safilo to a significant improvement of its operating performance, also above the first quarter of 2019.
The adjusted EBITDA equaled Euro 25.8 million in Q1 2021, compared to Euro 5.8 million in Q1 2020 and Euro 20.0 million in Q1 2019. In the period, the adjusted 1 EBITDA margin reached 10.3%, compared to 2.6% in Q1 2020 and 8.1% in Q1 2019.
Ph. Angelo Trocchia, CEO of Safilo Grou
