Jimmy Choo’s sales rise as it strides into Asia
LUXURY shoemaker Jimmy Choo said it more than halved its losses last year, thanks to its expanding footprint in Asia, despite shouldering £7.8m of initial public offering (IPO) costs.
The company, which floated on the London stock market in October, reported a 7.2 per cent rise in earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to £50.2m in 2014, on sales which rose 6.4 per cent to £192.9m.
Loss before tax fell to £8.2m from £21.4m the previous year despite incurring £13m of costs of which £7.8m were related to its flotation.
Jimmy Choo has been reducing its reliance on third-party retailers by opening more stores that it directly owns.
Nine were opened during the year, with a focus on China where it has less of a presence compared with its peers.
Sales in Asia, excluding Japan, jumped 34 per cent to £34.8m, helping to offset slower growth in Europe, which was impacted by fewer Russian travellers. Europe, Middle East and Africa grew by 4.7 per cent to £132.4m.