Fashion Week is about to begin and what better opportunity to try to understand how one of the key sectors of Made in Italy is going, the one that has been our flagship for years and years, one of the few points of pride that we positively distinguishes in the world.
R&S Mediobanca presented the annual survey on the main fashion groups in Italy from 2010 to the first nine months of 2015, analyzing the 143 largest Italian companies with at least 100 million euros in 2014.
According to the study by the Milanese bank, the world turnover of personal luxury goods rose to 2014 billion euros in 224, +2% compared to 2013. But the estimate for 2015 it even expects an increase of 13 percentage points.
As per tradition, it is the European market that excels worldwide with 76 billion euros, followed by 72 billion in the Americas and 45 billion euros in Asia Pacific.
In the Old Continent the driving force of the fashion sector is linked in particular to tourist flows: 58% of total consumption is in fact represented by travel retail, a market estimated at around 48 billion in Europe and largely distributed (about 74%) in four countries (France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy). The first nine months of 2015 were also positive with a 26% increase in tax-free tourist shopping in Europe and 19% in Italy.
An ever greater impact comes from the e-commerce market. In 2014 online sales reached 12 billion euros (2 billion more than the previous year) and for 2015 a growth of two percentage points is expected in the value of the luxury market as a whole which today stands at 5%.
Speaking of Italy, if manufacturing falls back, fashion advances. In 2014 the industry recorded a drop in turnover of 0,8%. At the same time, the Italian Fashion Companies recorded a 5,8% increase in profit, while the Top15Fashion companies rose by 5,8%. LThe ebit margin of Italian fashion companies is higher than that of large Italian manufacturing (9,3% against 6%) and that of Top15Moda is even more than double (12,3%). Even the roe of Top15Moda is higher than that of the Italian industry.
In the 2010-14 period, the aggregate revenues of the Italian fashion companies marked a progression of 27,7% to reach 58,1 billion in 2014. But it is the 15 largest that record the most consistent growth: +30,8%. from 21,3 billion in 2010 to 27,8 billion in 2014.
Dominating the scene in the four years analyzed by Mediobanca is undoubtedly prada. The company led by Patrizio Bertelli, since 2010 has registered a growth of 73,5%. Speaking of revenues, excellent results also for Ferragamo (+70,8%), Calzedonia (+63,8%), Moncler (+61,9%) and Armani (+59,7%). On the other hand, the revenues of Benetton (-20,6%) and D&G (-5,7%) went against the trend.
In terms of turnover, in 2014, Luxottica wins with 7.652 million, ahead of Prada (3.552 million) and Armani (2.535 million).
Also with regard to the financial solidity, fashion stands out from large manufacturing. In fact, the Italian fashion companies report a low incidence of financial debt on equity (36,8% in 2014), down by 2010 percentage points since 9. Not only that: the Top15Fashion also records greater liquidity, higher than the onerous debt, while the fashion companies report an incidence of 73,7%, against 50,8% of large manufacturing.
In the turnover of Italian companies in 2014, abroad accounts for 60,1% (+9,8 percentage points compared to 2010, equal to +52,6% against only +2,6% of the increase in national revenues)
Finally, it should be noted that, based on the report by Mediobanca, the higher sales in the period 2010 – 2014 generated a 22,7% increase in hiring across the Italian sector. Translated into numbers we are talking about a over 58 thousand employees which bring the total number to 316 units at the end of 2014. Italian-owned companies are the ones that have hired the most (+24,2% compared to +16,6% of foreign-owned companies).
