The Munich trading group Ludwig Beck achieved little sales growth in the 2024 financial year. In addition, the company slipped into the loss zone due to negative special effects. This emerges from current figures published on Thursday.
The gross turnover reached an amount of 87.2 million euros last year. In doing so, he exceeded the level of 2023 by 0.8 percent, but missed the forecast corridor of 90 to 93 million euros. The net turnover rose from 72.7 to 73.3 million euros.
The Christmas business remains behind the expectations
After adverse framework conditions had already burdened the demand in the first three quarters, hopes for a strong final sprint did not meet. “The fourth quarter, which traditionally largely sales and in particular, the Christmas business was also disappointing due to the massive effects of the Black Friday, which arose from the online area,” admitted the company in a message.
The annual turnover increased by 2.8 percent in the parent company at Munich Marienplatz. “However, the loss of sales in the online area, especially in the beauty range, dampened this positive development,” said the retailer. “In addition to strong price fights, a sales channel had to be closed due to the regulatory requirements of some main suppliers.”
Because the company was able to keep its gross gross stable, the result increased from interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) from 9.9 to 10.2 million euros. Due to higher interest rates, the result before tax (EBT) fell from 0.6 to 0.5 million euros.
For 2025, the management expects “no large sales and earnings jumps”.
The bottom line was a net loss of 2.9 million euros after a surplus of 0.4 million euros had been achieved in the previous year. According to the management, the shortfall was due to a “unique special effect”.
“Due to the massively deteriorating framework conditions around Germany and the textile retail, the company has corrected its medium -term forecasts down and a large part of the activated taxes on loss presentations that come exclusively from the Corona years in the amount of EUR 3.0 million,” explained the company. This measure was “just a book value correction”, the tax loss presentations were “in full”.
For 2025, the management expects “no large sales and earnings jumps” due to the persistently difficult market situation. A gross turnover at Group level in the range of 88 to 91 million euros is forecast. The result before taxes (EBT) should be between 0.5 and 1.8 million euros.