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Euphoria is taking a hit:
The fashion brand Hugo Boss jumped from record to record last year
Photo: Pietro D'Aprano / Getty Images
The fashion group Hugo Boss expects significantly slower growth in the coming years and is questioning its medium-term sales target.
“Against the background of the ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, the achievement of the sales target for 2025 of 5 billion euros could be delayed,” the men's and women's clothing retailer announced on Thursday.
CEO
Daniel Grieder
(62)
is targeting an increase in sales of 3 to 6 percent to 4.3 to 4.45 billion euros for 2024.
Last year sales increased by 15 percent.
The operating result (EBIT) is expected to increase by 5 to 15 percent to 430 to 475 million euros.
The poor prospects were not well received on the stock market: the share listed in the MDax small cap index fell by more than 18 percent to 52 euros.
Dividend increases
Last year, Boss achieved records: sales rose by 15 percent to 4.2 billion euros, thus reaching the upper edge of the forecast range.
EBIT shot up by 22 percent to 410 million euros.
The shareholders are to participate in the growth with a dividend increased by 35 cents to 1.35 euros per share.
The success story at Hugo Boss is closely linked to the CEO
Grieder.
The Supervisory Board has now extended his contract early until December 2028, as Boss announced on Wednesday.
Internally, the euphoria that Grieder has ignited since he started in 2021 is apparently having its first dampener.
According to information from manager magazine, the group has asked its employees to save money - for example on business trips - and has imposed a temporary hiring freeze.
However, Grieder denied the hiring freeze on Thursday.
mje/dpa-afx,Reuters