OTB Group — which owns Diesel, Maison Margiela, Jil Sander, Marni, Viktor Rolf, Staff International (which licenses DSquared2) and Brave Kid, and has a stake in Amiri — said net sales dropped 3.1 per cent year-on-year to €1.7 billion in the year ended 31 December 2024, while EBITDA dropped from €348 million in 2023 to €276 million.
“I am pleased with the results achieved in 2024, even though it was a challenging year for the entire luxury sector,” says OTB Group founder and chairman Renzo Rosso in a statement.
In 2024, luxury experienced its first slowdown since the Great Recession. OTB’s performance sits somewhere in the middle: in comparison, Kering’s full-year sales dropped 12 per cent last year, while Hermès and Moncler were less impacted, with sales up 15 per cent and 7 per cent in 2024, respectively.
Maison Margiela and Diesel maintained growth, up 4.6 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, at constant exchange rates (the company did not break out sales for the other brands in its portfolio). In December, John Galliano stepped down as creative director of Maison Margiela after a decade at the helm. In January, Glenn Martens, who has been creative director of Diesel since 2020, was appointed to take over from Galliano, and will now oversee both brands.
The group focused on optimising its direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel (which accounts for 57 per cent of sales) via increasing sales in existing stores, opening 61 new stores and closing 608 stores. DTC sales grew 7.4 per cent, while wholesale declines (which were not disclosed) weighed.
Despite the slowdown in China (the company did not break out sales for the region), Japan and the US outperformed, up 16.3 per cent and 13.3 per cent, respectively. The company said Japan is its key market, accounting for 26 per cent of all business. The company also made “significant investments” in high-growth regions. In June, the group entered a 25-year agreement with Chalhoub Group to expand OTB’s presence in the Middle East with plans to open 15 stores in the next five years (including two in 2025) and enhance local e-commerce capabilities and marketing initiatives. The company also entered the Mexican market for the first time by establishing a local legal entity, and has plans to open around 50 stores across the country the next five years (including 15 in 2025).
“2024 was a complex year for the entire luxury sector. In this challenging scenario, we embarked on a path of consolidation and expansion for the group, both through investments and by strengthening our management structure, allowing us to look to the future with optimism,” says OTB Group CEO Ubaldo Minelli. “With these foundations, we will continue on our path towards achieving our increasingly ambitious goals. Despite such complex challenges, we managed to maintain our strategic focus on brands, products and supply chain, constantly striving for excellence — which is our key strength and an increasingly important value for consumers.”
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