The Fielmann optical group started the new year with higher sales and earnings. Consolidated sales rose in the first quarter by 8.5 percent to 414 million euros, as the company announced on Thursday in Hamburg. Earnings after taxes increased by 18.7 percent to EUR 34.2 million. The quarter was characterized by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic with record infection rates in Central Europe and the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
According to Fielmann, it has been represented in the Ukraine since 1999 and employs 269 people there. Last year, the company achieved sales of four million euros there. Fielmann guaranteed the employees a job abroad, the employees who remained in the Ukraine would continue to be paid. Since the beginning of the war, revenues in the country have collapsed by 90 percent.
For the current year, the group expects sales growth of up to ten percent and a noticeable improvement in margins. This is subject to the proviso that neither the restrictions caused by the pandemic nor the long-term consequences of the war significantly affect business outside of Ukraine. When the annual figures were presented at the end of February, Fielmann promised a double-digit increase in sales. (dpa)