Samsonite International S.A., parent to the Gregory, High Sierra, Tumi, Kamiliant, ebags, Lipault, and Hartmann brands, among others, reported that net sales for the three months ended June 30 were $924.1 million, an increase of 36.1 percent in constant-currency terms when compared to the second quarter of 2022.

Compared to the corresponding pre-pandemic period in 2019, Samsonite’s net sales for the second quarter of 2023 increased by 14.6 percent, gross profit margin increased by 400 basis points, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin by 38.1 percent and 540 basis points, respectively, and Adjusted Net Income by 28.5 percent despite marketing spend as a percentage of sales rising by 110 basis points.

Gross margin expanded to 59.4 percent of sales in the second quarter, an increase of 290 basis points year-over-year, driven by an increased net sales mix from Asia and the Tumi brand and overall lower promotional activity. The Group said it increased its investment in marketing as planned, with marketing expenses rising to 6.9 percent of net sales in the second quarter compared to 4.8 percent of net sales in the second quarter of 2022.

Samsonite International said the company remained disciplined in managing fixed selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses in Q2, enabling Samsonite to achieve a 45.4 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA to $177.9 million and a 170 basis point expansion in Adjusted EBITDA margin to 19.3 percent of sales during the second quarter of 2023, even as marketing spend as a percentage of net sales increased by 210 basis points compared to the corresponding period in 2022.

Driven by the increase in Adjusted EBITDA, Samsonite recorded an Adjusted Net Income of $89.6 million for the second quarter, a 49.1 percent increase from the $60.0 million recorded in the second quarter of 2022.

First Half Results
For the first half ended June 30, consolidated net sales were $1.78 billion, an increase of 44.5 percent on a constant-currency basis compared to the first half of 2022. The company said the growth came as international travel continued to recover globally, particularly in Asia, and was supported by substantial investments in marketing behind the company’s brands and product assortments, as well as the strength of the Group’s direct-to-consumer business. Excluding the net sales in Russia, the Group’s net sales increased 45.7 percent constant-currency year-over-year during the first half of 2023.

“This remarkable outcome underscores the positive impact of the fixed SG&A cost savings from the Group’s restructuring actions and its ongoing discipline in controlling expenses as net sales continued to recover,” the company said in a release.

The Group’s net sales improvement was driven by “a robust recovery in leisure and business travel” and the resulting increased demand for the Group’s products. The company said there was a noticeable acceleration in the Group’s net sales recovery in all regions during the first half of 2023, particularly in Asia, where China, the last major market in the region to reopen, lifted restrictions at the beginning of 2023.

“We are thrilled with Samsonite’s performance in the first half of 2023, which reflects the growing demand for our products driven by our increased marketing investment and continued travel recovery across all of our regions, particularly in Asia,” said Kyle Gendreau, CEO of Samsonite International. “Samsonite’s net sales recovery noticeably accelerated during the first half of 2023, underscoring consumers’ enduring enthusiasm for travel and the potential upside for the business as travel continues to grow in China.”

Asia
For the first half, the Group recorded net sales of $693.9 million in Asia, an increase of 86.7 percent constant-currency, compared to net sales of $393.3 million in the first half of 2022; this drove the share of total net sales of Asia, the Group’s most profitable region, to increase to 39.1 percent of total sales in the first half of 2023 versus 31.0 percent in the first half of 2022. The Group’s net sales recovery in Asia noticeably accelerated during the first half of 2023, as China, the last major market in the region to reopen, lifted restrictions at the beginning of 2023.

During the first half of 2023, the Group’s net sales in China increased by 99.6 percent constant-currency, in India by 38.4 percent constant-currency, in Japan by 89.3 percent constant-currency, in South Korea by 77.3 percent constant-currency and in Hong Kong by 114.9 percent, year-over-year.

North America
The Group recorded first-half net sales of $611.3 million in North America, an increase of 25.3 percent constant-currency year-over-year. The Group’s net sales in the U.S. and Canada increased by 23.4 percent and 64.7 percent constant-currency, respectively, in the first half of 2023 compared to the corresponding period in 2022.

Adjusting for discontinuing third-party brand sales on the Ebags e-commerce platform in 2020, net sales in the U.S. increased by 6.4 percent for the six months ending June 30, compared to the corresponding period in 2019. Net sales in Canada increased by 20.1 percent constant-currency during the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2019.

Europe
First-half net sales were $365.7 million in Europe, an increase of 26.1 percent constant-currency (+30.3 percent when excluding the net sales in Russia) compared to the corresponding period in 2022, driven by year-over-year net sales increases of 32.6 percent in Germany, 45.2 percent in Italy, 34.0 percent in France, 13.3 percent constant-currency in the United Kingdom, and 25.1 percent constant-currency in Spain.

Latin America
The Group recorded net sales of $104.6 million in Latin America in the first half, an increase of 26.5 percent constant-currency compared to the corresponding period in 2022, driven by year-over-year net sales increases of 14.1 percent constant-currency in Chile, 31.8 percent constant-currency in Mexico, and 16.1 percent constant-currency in Brazil.

Brand Sales
For the six months ended June 30, net sales of the Samsonite brand increased by $260.3 million, or 47.1 percent constant-currency, year-over-year, mainly driven by Asia (up $143.9 million, or 102.4 percent constant-currency), North America (up $64.8 million, or 28.9 percent constant-currency) and Europe (up $44.5 million, or 27.6 percent constant-currency) with Latin America (up $7.2 million, or 27.6 percent constant-currency) also registering strong year-over-year net sales gains.

Net sales of the Tumi brand increased by $137.6 million, or 51.7 percent constant-currency, year-over-year, in H1 2023, with strong growth across all regions: Asia (up $59.6 million, or 86.6 percent constant-currency), North America (up $58.5 million, or 33.5 percent constant-currency), Europe (up $17.2 million, or 69.5 percent constant-currency) and Latin America (up $2.3 million, or 76.4 percent constant-currency). As a result, the Tumi brand’s share of the Group’s net sales increased to 23.7 percent in the first half of 2023 from 22.3 percent in the first half of 2022.

Net sales of the American Tourister brand increased by $86.3 million, or 42.5 percent constant-currency, year-over-year, in H1, mainly driven by strong growth in Asia (up $83.4 million, or 84.8 percent constant-currency), with Europe (up $2.7 million, or 7.1 percent constant-currency) and Latin America (up $3.0 million, or 27.0 percent constant-currency) also recording robust year-over-year net sales gains. Net sales of the American Tourister brand in North America decreased by $2.7 million, or 5.1 percent constant-currency, year-over-year due to a shift in the timing of shipments to certain wholesale customers.

The Gregory and High Sierra brands are reported through the Other brands and are not broken out in the quarterly reports.

Direct-to-Consumer
During the six months ended June 30, the Group’s net sales in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel, which includes company-operated retail stores and DTC e-commerce, increased by $212.1 million, or 51.0 percent constant-currency, to $669.0 million (representing 37.7 percent of net sales) from $456.9 million (representing 36.0 percent of net sales) in the first half of 2022. The Group’s DTC retail net sales increased by $153.1 million, or 50.0 percent constant-currency, to $489.0 million and comprised 27.5 percent of first half 2023 net sales, compared to $335.8 million, or 26.4 percent of net sales, during the first half of 2022. 

Meanwhile, DTC e-commerce net sales increased by $58.9 million, or 53.7 percent constant-currency, to $180.0 million (representing 10.1 percent of net sales) during the first half of 2023, compared to $121.1 million (representing 9.5 percent of net sales) during the first half of 2022.

The Group added 32 company-operated retail stores in the first half, partially offset by the closure of 16 company-operated retail stores; this resulted in a net increase of 16 company-operated retail stores during the first half of 2023, compared to a net reduction of 42 company-operated retail stores during the first half of 2022 (including 37 company-operated retail stores that were located in Russia). The total number of company-operated retail stores was 1,001 as of June 30, 2023, compared to 963 company-operated retail stores as of June 30, 2022, and 1,278 as of June 30, 2019.

The company had $312.7 million of the Group’s net sales occur through e-commerce channels (comprising $180.0 million of net sales from the Group’s DTC e-commerce website, which are included within the DTC channel, and $132.7 million of net sales to e-retailers, which are included within the wholesale channel), an increase of $83.9 million, or 41.0 percent constant-currency, compared to the $228.8 million during the first half of 2022. E-commerce comprised 17.6 percent of the Group’s first half of 2023 net sales, compared to 18.0 percent in the first half of 2022.

Profitability
For the first half, gross margin increased by 310 basis points to 58.8 percent of sales in the first half of 2023, with all regions reporting year-over-year gross profit margin gains. Asia, the region with the highest gross margin, increased its share of total net sales. The increase in gross profit margin was also driven by an increased proportion of total net sales attributable to the Tumi brand, changes in channel net sales mix, and overall lower promotional activity.

“Gross margin performance in the first half of 2023 was supported by increased contribution from the higher margin Asia and Tumi businesses,” added Gendreau. “Our efforts to streamline our cost base in 2020 and 2021, along with our ongoing cost discipline, have fundamentally transformed the margin profile of our business, enabling us to deliver strong improvement in profitability both year-over-year and versus the first half of 2019. As a result, we achieved a record Adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.8 percent in the first half of 2023, up 660 basis points versus the first half of 2019.”

“As we look out to the remainder of 2023, the summer travel season is expected to be strong due to robust pent-up demand in North America and Europe, the recent reopening of China and other major Asian markets, and the continued recovery in international flight capacity,” Gendreau concluded. “In particular, the recovery in outbound travel from China is still in its early stages and is expected to accelerate in the coming months, driving further net sales growth in Asia, Europe and North America. We’ve seen this positive momentum reflected in our net sales performance in July 2023.”

Photo courtesy Gregory