Luxury has brought the strong earnings growth in 2011 PPR
PPR said Thursday a sharp increase in its annual results, driven by the brilliant performances of its luxury brands, and was confident for 2012.
"The results of PPR are excellent and we are confident for 2012," said chief financial officer, Jean-François Palus, during a conference call.
The group that owns Gucci, Puma, Fnac and Redcats, saw sales increase by 11.1% last year to 12.23 billion euros, a figure slightly higher Interior to the Reuters poll of 12.13 billion. At constant exchange rates, sales growth stood at 9.3%.
The increase in turnover has been hampered by the poor performance against the Fnac, whose sales fell 3.6%, while those in the luxury division jumped 22.2 % and that of Puma significantly accelerated (10.5%).
On luxury, the CFO said that January sales were as good or better than those of the fourth quarter, which signed an organic growth of 18.6%, significantly exceeded expectations of analysts polled by Reuters (17%).
The annual operating profit rose 17% to 1.60 billion euros, slightly above consensus ($ 1.55 billion).
For 2012, the group said anticipating growth "supported" by its turnover and a further increase in its results.
PPR accounts no longer include figures of Redcats, a subsidiary of distance selling, nor those of FNAC in Italy, these assets are to be sold and which, under accounting standards be deconsolidated from the perimeter.
Net income, up 26.4% in spring 1.05 billion euros and the proposed dividend is unchanged at 3.50 euros.