The Munich retail group Ludwig Beck was able to more than double its sales in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year compared to the same period last year and reduce the loss. In view of the adverse general conditions, the company is “still a long way away” from a “normalization of the sales situation”, emphasized the retailer in its interim report published on Wednesday. Despite the recent recovery, revenues are “not yet at pre-pandemic levels”.
In the months from January to March, Ludwig Beck achieved gross sales of 14.7 million euros, which means an increase of 119 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Net sales jumped from 5.6 to 12.4 million euros. At the beginning of 2021, however, the protective measures against the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic had put an exceptional strain on business: “The comparability of the Group’s earnings situation with the previous year is severely limited, since the flagship store at Marienplatz was closed from December 16, 2020 to December 7, 2020 due to a full lockdown March 2021 was closed,” the company explained.
The group also made strong progress in terms of earnings: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to 0.3 million euros, after a deficit of 1.9 million euros had to be booked on this basis in the same period of the previous year. The retailer was able to significantly reduce its net loss: it shrank from 2.7 million euros in the first quarter of 2021 to 1.1 million euros now.
In view of the figures available, management stuck to its annual forecasts. It therefore continues to expect gross sales in the range of EUR 85 to 88 million and a “slightly positive” result before taxes for 2022. In doing so, the company assumes that “business will normalize to some extent with the Oktoberfest taking place again and unrestricted Christmas business with Christmas markets like before the pandemic”.