Benneton Group doubles annual losses to 81 mn euros

Benetton Group has not been able to recover from losses since last two years and the trend continued in 2016 as well. The Italian group reported a loss of 81 million euros (94 million dollars) against 46 million euros (53 million dollars), the company posted last year, says a Modaes report.

The company's sales declined 8 percent to 1.38 billion euros (1.60 billion dollars), which Benetton attributed to continued economic stagnation in Europe and decline in sales of indirect sales channels as well as poor performance of stores in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Turkey. However, the company believes that its ongoing transformation plan will make a partial impact in 2017 but will manifest fully from the spring-summer 2018, the report adds quoting a accounts filed by Edizione, which controls 100 percent of Benetton Group.

As a part of its reorganization efforts, Benetton hired Marco Airoldi as the new CEO in April 2014. It also closed over 300 stores and currently operates around 5,000 stores. The company has also focussed its energies on its two core brands - United Colors of Benetton and Sisley to bring the company back into the black.

Picture:Benetton website