Benetton archives the first quarter with results down but in line with expectations and from May 31st the share will be released from Piazza Affari following Edisione Srl's overrun of the 95% stake in the capital of the Benetton Group.
The first three months show revenues of 428 million with a decrease of 5,5% over the same period of last year while net profit drops to 10 million compared to 19 million in the same period of 2011.
The first quarter "ended with an unsatisfactory resultee still influenced by the strong increases in costs that had already characterized the last quarters of 2011″, affirms the CEO. Alessandro Benetton, son of Luciano.
Biagio Chiarolanza, head of foreign business units and finance: "We know that the road to repositioning will not be easy and the results of the first quarter confirm it. In the meantime the process has been started and will continue with determination, even if the economic crisis affecting the main markets for our product does not allow us to foresee a rapid recovery”.
Returning to the accounts at the end of March “Benetton Group presents a net financial debt of 687 million compared to 534 million at the end of March 2011. On the outlook, Benetton indicates that the operating result will not be able to improve and, as a result of the higher cost of debt, the net result for 2012 may also drop slightly”, as indicated in a press release. The financial position, on the other hand, is expected to decrease compared to the end of 2011.
