Lanvin sales reach record level, loss-making group sees path to profitability

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 20, 2023

Lanvin Group has reported “record sales and continued margin improvements” for last year with its revenues leaping 37%. It remains loss-making, but said that profitability is within reach.

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FY22 revenues hit €422 million and the group gross profit margin rose to 56% with “both contribution profit and adjusted EBITDA margins steadily improving”.

Contribution profit is defined as gross profit less selling and marketing expenses. 

It added that all of its portfolio brands delivered revenue growth and it also saw growth across all channels and geographies.

In fact, the eponymous Lanvin label saw 64% year-on-year revenue growth, while the wider firm’s implementation of its global strategy resulted in 39% growth in EMEA, 36% in North America, and 15% in Greater China, even with the Covid impact taken into account.

It said the DTC and Wholesale channels grew 32% and 41%, respectively. 

Gross profit increased to €238 million, representing a 56% margin versus €170 million in 2021 at a margin of 55%. Gross profit has more than doubled since 2020.

But adjusted EBITDA remained a loss for 2022 (almost €72 million after a loss of almost €59 million a year ago), although as a percentage of sales, it continued to improve going from -40% in 2020 to -19% in 2021 and -17% in 2022. 

Contribution profit profit for the year was €13 million, an improvement of €9 million from 2021, the first year of positive contribution profits, “and a tremendous increase from 2020 when it measured negative at €34 million”. 

The group expects to “maintain its 2022 momentum into 2023 and achieve solid margin improvement as the year progresses”. 

It added that “many of the ‘nuts and bolts’ initiatives started in 2022 will reach completion in 2023 resulting in continued margin improvement. Additionally, a significant portion of the store optimisation has taken place and while the group will continue to enhance its retail network in 2023, we believe the foundation is in placed to opportunistically grow its footprint”.

With all that in mind, it’s targeting the all-important break-even point in FY24.

Looking in more detail, it said Lanvin gross profits increased to €61 million, at a margin of 50%, from €34 million, at a margin of 47%, in 2021. It was boosted by higher sell-through rates in all product categories as well as increasing economies of scale. Contribution profits continued to improve going from a loss of €24 million in 2021 to a loss of €15 million in 2022. 

Wolford gross profits increased to €86 million from €79 million. Margins declined slightly due to materials inflation as well as production personnel costs. Contribution profit fell to €4 million from €20 million mainly driven by one-off expenses.

Sergio Rossi was acquired in July 2021. Since then, gross margins increased from 46% to 50% in 2022, helped by higher-margin DTC sales. Contribution margins declined slightly in 2022 from 13% to 11% due to higher investments in personnel, marketing and rental expenses. 

St John’s margin profile “improved dramatically” with gross profit up from €39 million to €53 million and margins increasing from 53% to 61%. Contribution profits also increased from €1 million to €10 million.

Caruso continued its “strong, steady performance” with its gross profits increasing from €4 million to €7 million and margins increasing from 18% to 23%. Contribution profits also increased from €3 million to €6 million. The company said Caruso “leveraged higher sales from new accounts and deeper penetration with current customers to increase its profitability through economies of scale coupled with better management of factory labour costs as well as selling and marketing expenses”.

Chairman and CEO Joann Cheng added: “We are pleased with the progress we made in 2022. Not only did we achieve record revenues, we also made great strides in improving our cost structure and streamlining our operations. Our progress in 2022 has laid a strong foundation for 2023, and notwithstanding current macroeconomic conditions, we remain optimistic for the current year, especially with the continued resurgence of Greater China.”