(Alliance News) - Geox Spa reported Thursday that first quarter revenues rose 21 percent year-on-year to EUR223.7 million from EUR184.4 million in the same period last year.

Multibrand store revenues stood at EUR136.1 million, up 33 percent at current exchange rates or 29 percent at constant exchange rates from EUR102.6 million in March 2022. The trend benefited from a positive - plus around 17% - order intake from the SS23 collection, which was also compounded in the quarter by a positive timing effect made possible by the strong improvement in conditions on transportation and the supply chain from the end of 2022.

Revenues from the franchise channel stood at EUR20.6 million, up 32 percent from the first quarter of 2022. Revenues from directly operated stores stood at EUR67.0 million compared to EUR66.1 million in the first quarter of 2022.

Comparable sales at the end of the period grew by 3.5 percent. Specifically, physical stores reported comparable sales up about 9.1 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022 while the online channel showed a 12 percent decline, in line with the stabilization of performance after lockdowns. Growth in the direct online channel, however, remains particularly high at about 76 percent over 2019.

Net financial position stood-before-IFRS 16 and after fair value of derivative contracts-at negative EUR97.8 million from negative EUR49.8 million in December 2022 and from negative EUR58.0 million in March 2022. Net liabilities to banks alone stood at EUR115.5 million from EUR75.7 million in December 2022 and EUR85.6 million DI March 2022. The fair value of outstanding hedging transactions as of March 31 is therefore positive by EUR17.7 million. The trend in NFP is closely related to the trend in working capital, of EUR142 million from EUR77 million at the end of 2022 and EUR104 million at the end of March 2022.

For the remainder of 2023, Geox expects revenues up double digits in the first half and up slightly in the second half, and with regard to gross margins, the company believes that due to the good performance of discounts and freight costs, it can improve in the first half by about 200 bps and by about 130/150 bps in the second half compared to the same periods last year.

Geox's stock closed Thursday down 0.2 percent at EUR1.05 per share.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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