Ecco posts record sales, increased profits for FY 2015

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Mar 11, 2016

Ecco, the Danish footwear brand, successfully increased profits for the sixth consecutive year in 2015.

Profit for the full-year period rose 4% to €183m, with a profit ratio of 14.6%, the company said. Net sales reached €1.3bn and net revenue increased by 7.4%.

"2015 was characterised by Ecco successfully launching innovative collections and investing in the future. These results were achieved by the organisation executing our strategies well, a prerequisite for continuous profit improvement in challenging markets worldwide”, says CEO Dieter Kasprzak.

For the first time ever, Ecco saw sales outside Europe increase to more than 50% of the total Group revenue. The company said this is achieving Ecco's aim to create a well-balanced market portfolio. Ecco and its partners opened 174 new shops in the period and rationalised its shop portfolio, resulting in a net of 95 openings.

Investments rose by 18% to €52m and equity rose to €579m. The solvency rate was 61.1%.

“The result is satisfactory and slightly better than the level of EUR 176million achieved last year”, says Ecco CFO, Steen Borgholm. “We managed to close the significant gap created by the drop in sales in Europe. This was done through accelerated shop openings, launching more e-commerce sites, and working closely with our wholesale partners. With the exception of Russia and Ukraine, we generated sales growth in all three channels, retail, e-commerce, and wholesale - and in all three international regions. This is a good achievement in a difficult market environment”.

Ecco is expanding in the UK and last year it opened a new Edinburgh store.