During the first nine months of 2022, the company said, business performance of Gerry Weber International AG was affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Net sales of the Gerry Weber Group in the first nine months amounted to 247.4 million euros, up 30.2 percent, since retail spaces remained open throughout.

“Our ageless collections are very well received by our customers, but we also notice that the consumer climate continues to deteriorate due to the high inflation. One of the measures we have introduced to counter this trend is strict cost discipline across the group,” said Angelika Schindler-Obenhaus, CEO of Gerry Weber International AG.

Gerry Weber posts sales growth

While the fourth Covid wave and restrictive 2G rules still had an adverse impact, especially on German retailers, at the beginning of the year, the second and third quarters saw sales increase on the previous year across all segments as the restrictions were lifted.

The company added that high inflation driven by the sharp rise in energy prices led to a further deterioration in consumer sentiment and to spending restraint, which is felt across all segments.

Domestic sales as a percentage of total sales rose slightly from 47 percent to 48.3 percent. The company further said that all segments contributed to the positive sales trend.

The retail segment increased its sales to 116 million euros. During the same period, Gerry Weber’s ecommerce segment recorded strong growth of 35.7 percent to 41.5 million euros, above the long-term target of 20%. In the wholesale segment, sales reached 89.8 million euros at the nine-month stage against 73 million euros in the previous year.

Gerry Weber maintain outlook despite uncertainty

The company's reported EBITDA increased to 36.9 million euros for the nine month period, while the reported EBITDA margin improved from 12.4 percent to 14.9 percent.

Normalised EBITDA rose sharply to EUR 11.1 million compared to negative 2.2 million euros and came in at the upper end of the range projected for the fiscal year 2022, while the normalised EBITDA margin stood at 4.5 percent, compared to negative 1.2 percent in the previous year.

The net income for the period amounted to negative 10.2 million euros, up from negative 24.3 million euros in the prior year period.

“Just like so many others, Gerry Weber is unable to isolate itself from higher personnel, material, transport and energy costs. So far, we have been able to pass on most of these higher costs to customers through price increases,” added Florian Frank, CFO of Gerry Weber International AG.

Although the market environment continues to deteriorate, the company’s board continues to project consolidated sales of between 315 million euros and 340 million euros as well as normalised consolidated EBITDA in the negative single-digit to positive single-digit million range.