Renzo Rosso’s OTB quadruples 2017 EBIT, though group revenues slide 2.4 percent

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Apr 20, 2018

OTB, the holding company of Italian fashion billionaire Renzo Rosso, quadrupled its Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) to €21.5 million in 2017, compared with just €5.1 million a year earlier.

 
However, it added that consolidated net profit was essentially unchanged at €3 million, in part due to €7 million one-off tax charges due to regulation changes in the US and Japan.
 
Moreover, OTB also suffered a 2.4 percent decline in group revenues to €1,520 million in constant currencies. The group managed to improve its balance sheet, ending the year with a net financial position of €84 million.

OTB, originally known as Only The Brave, is based in Breganze, near the city of Vicenza, in Rosso’s native Veneto region of Italy. The OTB holding includes the following noted brands and manufacturing companies within its ranks – Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni, Paula Cademartori, Viktor&Rolf, Staff International and Brave Kid.
 
“OTB is undergoing organizational transformation in a constantly evolving macroeconomic scenario. Marni, Maison Margiela and the other high-end companies of the group continue to show a growth trend, showing vitality and speed in capturing change,” the house stressed in a release, its first financial results since the December 2017 appointment of new CEO Ubaldo Minelli. Previously, Minelli was CEO of Staff International – essentially the manufacturing arm of this Italian fashion group. Staff International also controls the long-term manufacturing license of Vivienne Westwood, Dsquared2 and Just Cavalli.
 
“We are implementing a series of initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness across the entire group, in order to consolidate and develop each company in an organic way,” said Minelli.
 
Both Maison Margiela and Marni have experienced double-digit growth worldwide, especially in Asia, OTB revealed.
 
In the release, OTB argued that Marni enjoys significant “brand desirability,” while its accessories business had gained “momentum.” The house’s signature retail project Marni Market has also just arrived in Italy, after a tour of Asia, Paris and California. Maison Margiela is currently enjoying the positive fallout from two recent international exhibitions – both in Paris – dedicated to the founder’s avant-garde aesthetics. Meanwhile, their smaller Dutch cousin Viktor&Rolf, has won significant editorial coverage from its recent Bridal and Evening collections.
 
The house does not break out the results for individual brands. Not even for its troubled flagship marque Diesel – which said goodbye late last year to its artistic director Nicola Formichetti, who, ultimately, did not prevent the brand’s image from cooling during his four-year stint at the house. No successor to Formichetti has been named.