Ralph Lauren, even while recording a decrease in revenue, beats the estimates in the fourth quarter of 2018. But it isn’t enough for the financial market, as it voices the widespread concern surrounding weak sales in its biggest market: North America, where sales were down for the 6th times out of the last quarters of the last two years, losing 4%. The numbers: the first quarter of 2018 closed with net revenue of 1.50 billion USD, down 1.3%. The forecast was of 1.48 billion USD. Net profits were down to 31.6 million USD from the 41.3 million USD of 2017’s last quarter. As far as the entirety of 2018 goes, Ralph Lauren sold goods for 6.3 billion USD (+2%). While net profit went up from 162.8 in 2017 to 430.9 million USD. For Ralph Lauren, as for many others, China was the reason behind the positive performance, causing the brand to have a 30% increment at constant rates. Europe also performed well (+11%). What is weighing on Ralph Lauren’s results is the Trade War currently going on between the USA and China, where a third of the brand’s raw material arrives from. “We accelerated the diversification of our supply chain in order to mitigate the long-term impact of any potential tariff outcome”, explained the group.
Image taken from Ralphlauren.it
