Salvatore Ferragamo posts higher-than-expected 2014 core profit 

Italian luxury group Salvatore Ferragamo reported a bigger-than-expected 13 percent rise in core profit last year and said the first few months of 2015 supported expectations of further growth this year.

Ferragamo said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation totalled 293 million euros ($311 million) in 2014. That compared with an average analyst estimate of 281 million euros according to Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate.

The Florentine group said it would propose raising its dividend to 42 euro cents per share from 40 euro cents a year earlier.

Sales at Ferragamo grew faster in the fourth-quarter, rising 9.3 percent on the year, the group said in late January when it reported revenues of 1.3 billion euros for the whole of 2014.

€1 = $1.06/£0.71