2023-06-17 02:44:15
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AFP
Published on
June 15, 2023
The Swiss textile group Calida issued a warning on Thursday on its results for 2023 in the face of a “difficult” consumer climate which is affecting its recent acquisitions, in particular the German start-up Erlich Textil from which it will separate.
The group that owns the French lingerie brand Aubade had bought this German underwear brand in February 2022 for an undisclosed amount as part of a refocus on lingerie.
But the growth of this brand specializing in sustainable textiles has been “well below expectations” since its acquisition, the Swiss group said in a press release.
Consumer sentiment “remains very depressed” in the face of rising interest rates and “partly high inflation”, he adds, which has “severely impacted” the brand’s development plans.
Sales have deteriorated to such proportions that keeping Erlich Textil “no longer makes sense” from a strategic point of view, the group continues.
A depreciation of around 23 to 25 million Swiss francs (an equivalent amount in euros) will be recorded in its accounts as of June 30.
Last year, the group also bought the American lingerie brand Cosabella, created in 1983 by an Italian couple living in the United States who imported underwear made in Italy.
This brand is showing “satisfactory” growth but still “below the objectives” that the group had set for itself when it was acquired, the statement added.
The group expects its sales (excluding currency effects) and its operating profit in 2023 to be “below their high level of last year”, while stressing that its historic brand of Calida pajamas continues to grow. show “remarkably good” performance.
Strategy reviewed
After “a strong growth phase”, its Aubade and Lafuma furniture brands are “facing a consolidation phase” during the first half, which forces the group “to accept a temporary decline in sales”, he adds.
The group had sold its sports and mountain clothing activities to refocus on underwear and lingerie, keeping Lafuma only furniture, whose sales were very high. They had exploded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic when demand for garden furniture soared during the first confinement.
Its growth strategy for the period up to 2026 will be reviewed “in depth” over the “coming months”, the statement said.
Calida announces the departure date of its managing director, Timo Schmidt-Eisenhart, who will leave the company at the end of June. In March, he had already informed the board of directors of his intention to leave the group for personal reasons.
Felix Sulzberger, its president, will act as interim director until a successor is found. On Sunday, the group also announced the arrival of a new chief financial officer, Dave Müller, from the ranks of the company.
Calida is experiencing “significant changes” in personnel in its management team and is now “negatively affected by the acquisitions made last year” as well as the “slowdown in consumer demand”, explains in a stock commentary Pascal Furger, analyst at Vontobel. “This uncertainty will weigh on the share price,” he warns.
At 7:24 GMT the title lost 1.46% to 37.25 Swiss francs, while the SPI, the broader index of the Swiss Stock Exchange, fell by 0.06%.
Zurich, 15 June 2023 (AFP)
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