The Swiss clothing group Calida Group made further progress in terms of sales and earnings in the first half of 2022. On Thursday, the company said it was able to increase its revenues from continuing operations by 11.9 percent (+17.6 percent at constant currency) to 172.2 million Swiss francs (176.0 million euros). On an organic basis, the corresponding sales were therefore 9.2 percent (currency-adjusted +14.8 percent) above the level of the same period of the previous year.
All segments were able to increase their half-year sales: the Calida brand increased by 2.3 percent (currency-adjusted +6.6 percent) to 69.6 million Swiss francs, the Aubade label came to 38.4 million Swiss francs and thus exceeded the corresponding previous year’s level by 18.3 percent (currency-adjusted +25.7 percent). The revenues of the furniture division Lafuma Mobilier grew by 18.6 percent (currency-adjusted +25.4 percent) to 53.7 million Swiss francs. The sales contributions from the brands Erlich Textil (CHF 2.2 million) and Cosabella (CHF 1.9 million), which were acquired in the past few months, were booked for the first time.
The group was also able to increase earnings in the first half of the year: the operating profit (EBIT) adjusted for special effects rose by 13.6 percent to 17.8 million Swiss francs, the net profit from continued operations grew from 12.7 to 13.1 million Swiss francs (13.4 million euros).
At the same time, the company announced an impending change in the ownership structure: the founding family Kellenberger intends to give up its role as “anchor shareholder” and to sell its 33.5 percent stake in Calida Holding AG, the group announced. The decision was justified by the fact that within the family “there will be no successor for Erich Kellenberger with the necessary industrial expertise in the foreseeable future”. Therefore, the family is now “striving for a constructive solution for all stakeholders” and wants to “hand over the shareholding to responsible shareholders,” the company said.