Dive Brief:
- Prada Group net revenues were up 12% to 3.34 billion euros, or approximately $3.54 billion at current exchange rates, in the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company reported Tuesday.
- Retail sales totaled 2.97 billion euros for the period, representing a 12% rise, and retail sales numbers were up double-digits in every region except the Americas, which dropped 3% to 536 million euros. Global wholesale numbers were up 4% to 291 million euros, and overall royalties rose 67% to 73 million euros.
- The Prada brand saw a retail sales boost of 13% year over year in the period, while Miu Miu was up 49% due in part to what the company called “growing brand awareness and increasingly strong client connections globally.”
Dive Insight:
If there’s a softening in the luxury market, Prada Group seems largely unaffected.
The company continued the upward trajectory it set in H1, when it posted a 62% profit jump, and has kept pace with fellow Italian luxury firm Zegna, which also posted healthy earnings for the first nine months of 2023.
“Our strategy delivered solid growth in the first nine months of 2023, including in the third quarter, notwithstanding the very challenging basis of comparison,” Patrizio Bertelli, Prada Group chairman and executive director, said in the release. “The Group continued to consolidate its brands’ desirability and accelerated investments as planned. Looking ahead, we are focused on enhancing innovation and dynamism, drawing on the strength of our reinforced organisation, and on retaining the flexibility that characterises our Group.”
The Miu Miu brand, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has done especially well. The Lyst index, which reports on the top 20 brands and products each quarter, named Miu Miu as its hottest brand for Q3, beating out Loewe, which came in second, and Prada, which came in third.
Part of the reason for Miu Miu’s consumer appeal included a recent footwear collaboration with Prada Group’s Church’s brand, as well as its logo cashmere cardigan, which named Lyst’s second hottest product for the quarter. Continuing the momentum, Miu Miu's spring-summer 2024 runway show offered up a logo polo shirt that could potentially become spring 2024’s must-have piece.
Meanwhile, Prada dressed the China women’s national soccer team during the 2023 World Cup, and it announced in October a partnership with Axiom Space to design NASA’s lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III mission.
“In the third quarter, Prada remained on a sound growth trajectory, driven by solid full price like-for-like sales,” Andrea Guerra, Prada Group’s CEO, said in the release. “Miu Miu continued to deliver a strong performance across all geographies and categories. In an uncertain geopolitical and economic backdrop that requires us to stay vigilant, we continue to see positive momentum in the business and strong excitement around our brands, positioning us well for Q4 and vis-à-vis our ambition to deliver solid, sustainable, and above-market growth in 2023.”
At the end of 2022, Prada founder Miuccia Prada and husband Patrizio Bertelli announced they would be stepping back as co-CEOs of the family-run company, and their son, Lorenzo Bertelli, is expected to take over as group CEO in 2024.
Prada Group first began releasing quarterly data in May, when it posted a net revenue of 1.06 billion euros, showing a 22% year-over-year increase.
