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Lingerie group Van de Velde confirms negative start to the year
From the first few months of the financial year, it was clear that Van de Velde was struggling, leading the Belgian group to issue a warning about its expected results last April. On July 9, the Belgian lingerie specialist, owner among others of the Marie Jo, Andres Sarda and Primadonna brands, confirmed the adverse trend, publishing negative preliminary results for the first six months of the year.
Van de Velde’s preliminary, unaudited revenue for the first six months was down by 3.9%, to €110.8 million. At constant exchange rates, the shortfall was a little less, down by 2.1%.
Ahead of the report of the definitive results for the first six months, scheduled on August 31, Van de Velde indicated that the decrease in comparable wholesale revenue was nevertheless estimated at a 1.4% decrease and, still in like-for-like terms, retail revenue grew 4.3%. The figures are somewhat misleading however, since the retail channel includes also e-commerce, which has been deployed more extensively since 2017.
Indeed, the issue is with brick-and-mortar stores: Van de Velde reckons that it is under pressure chiefly owing to the stores’ declining footfall, especially in the first quarter, with an impact on both specialist retailers and on Van de Velde’s own monobrand chains, such as Rigby & Peller, Private Shop and Lincherie.
The Belgian group is well aware that it will not be able to reach its growth objective for 2018, but it can still hope to limit the damage in the second half of the year.
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