Moncler wants to stop being a brand of one winter
Asia delivered 12%; Europe sagged on tourism. The new chief executive, in from Bottega Veneta, says the company’s future lies in materials rather than puffer jackets.
Moncler’s second-quarter revenue rose 5% at constant exchange rates to €409.3m ($467m). The analyst consensus compiled by the company itself had assumed €405.8m — a result slightly above expectations.
The figure is modest in itself, and there is a reason for that: for a maker of winter puffer jackets, the second quarter is low season. Which is why the attention goes not to revenue but to what management says.
The eponymous brand, which delivers the bulk of group sales, added 12% in Asia, with China and South Korea driving the growth. In the Americas, where the brand’s presence is still being built, sales rose 4%. Europe looks worse: tourist spending has slowed.
Operating profit for the first half rose to €245.4m against €224.8m a year earlier — up 9.2%.
The main point came on the earnings call. The new chief executive Leo Rongone, who arrived from Bottega Veneta, named his priorities: strengthen the brand in regions with growth potential, and take up again the task of turning Moncler into an all-season label. Innovation in materials, he said, will play the key part in that — a way to move beyond the outerwear the brand has been tied to from the beginning.
The history invites such turns. Moncler was founded in 1952 in a mountain village near Grenoble, and the company began by making equipment for mountaineers. It was turned into a global luxury brand by the Italian entrepreneur Remo Ruffini, who bought the label in 2003.
Moncler’s results add to the cautious signs of recovery in the sector: a week earlier the owner of Cartier, Richemont, reported revenue above expectations, and Burberry posted comparable sales growth of 5%.