Hugo Boss optimistic about 2018

German fashion group Hugo Boss is enjoying an upbeat end to 2017, and its senior management is optimistic about next year too. "In 2018, Hugo Boss’s sales and profits will grow again," the group's CEO Mark Langer told the German media.

Last November, Hugo Boss had already revised upwards its guidance for the current fiscal year. "The last few weeks have made me even more optimistic," said Langer. "For next year, our ambition is to grow at a rate we estimate will be between 3 and 4%, much higher than the market's."

As for the current fiscal year, the high-end menswear label expects a single-digit revenue increase. Operating income ought instead to be on par with last year, notably due to the strength of the euro.

Hugo Boss has gone through a troubled period. In the last few years, the group was impacted by the generalised slow-down of the textile market and by a series of managerial blunders, following which the majority of its board was forced to resign. The label has since carried out a strategic market repositioning, and closed down a number of stores. The transformation is bearing fruit, as store footfall has finally stabilised, after falling for two years.