Italian Fashion House Prada Reports Higher Full-Year Revenue

2:17 AM PST 2/20/2013 by Georg Szalai

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The company, which has used Hollywood stars in its ad campaigns, cites gains in Europe and Asia, but fourth-quarter growth slowed down.

LONDON -- Italian fashion house Prada late Tuesday reported a 29 percent increase in annual revenue.

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Prada, whose brands also include Miu Miu and Church's, posted revenue of $4.4 billion (€3.3 billion) for its fiscal year ended in late January. It will report full earnings in April.

The 2012 gain amounted to 14 percent when excluding currency effects and new stores opened over the past year. Prada cited increased spending on higher-priced luxury goods and solid growth in many regions of the world.

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Milan-based Prada has been casting hot Hollywood actors in its ad campaign. The fashion house, whose brand is also known to moviegoers thanks to the film The Devil Wears Prada, recently picked Benicio Del Toro and Harvey Keitel for a campaign along with young actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Savages) and Dane DeHaan. Gary Oldman, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe and Garrett Hedlund also previously starred in Prada ad campaigns.

"The strength of our brands, our ability to interpret and anticipate market trends and our global retail network continue to form the basis for our long-term growth strategy," said Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli.

But growth slowed late in 2012 amid fewer discounts. Bloomberg quoted an analyst who suggested that sales in stores open for at least a year likely slowed to the mid-to high-single digit percentage range in the fourth quarter. That would mark the first time Prada posted growth of less than 10 percent since its IPO in 2011.

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Full-year revenue growth differed by region. In Italy, where Prada is based, revenue rose 19 percent, below the 33 percent gain recorded for the rest of Europe.

The firm also highlighted a 23 percent improvement in the Asia-Pacific region when excluding currency swings. In the Americas region, Prada saw a 15 percent increase, while Japan was up 8 percent.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai