The French fashion house Chanel was able to significantly exceed the pre-crisis level in terms of sales and profit in the 2021 financial year. This emerges from the current annual report published by the London-based parent company Chanel Limited on Tuesday.
Accordingly, sales last year amounted to 15.6 billion US dollars (14.6 billion euros). Compared to the previous year, which was particularly affected by the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, this means an increase of 54.7 percent, the level of the pre-crisis year 2019 was exceeded by 27.4 percent. Adjusted for currency effects and changes in the group structure, revenues grew by 49.6 percent compared to 2020 and 22.9 percent compared to 2019.
The company emphasized that it was able to set new sales records in all product categories, although demand in its own retail and in business with tourists was still affected by the corona protection measures in force at the time, especially in the first half of the year. All market regions contributed to the strong growth: In Europe, sales increased by 40.1 percent to USD 4.04 billion compared to the previous year, in the Asia-Pacific region by 53.5 percent to USD 8.07 billion and in America by 79.5 percent to $3.53 billion.
Thanks to the significant improvement in sales, earnings also grew rapidly. Operating profit was $5.46 billion, more than double the previous year’s $2.02 billion. Net income has almost tripled, jumping from $1.37 to $4.03 billion (EUR 3.76 billion). This was 68.5 percent above the level of 2019 ($2.39 billion).