Samsonite International S.A.reported first-half revenues of the Gregory brand increased by 33.6 percent on a currency-neutral basis while those of High Sierra decreased by 31.7 percent year-over-year.
Net sales for Gregory improved to $32.7 million from $24.1 million a year ago. High Sierra’s sales came to High Sierra $10.3 million, down $14.7 million a year ago.
For the six months ended June 30, 2021, Samsonite International recorded net sales of US$799.5 million, a decrease of 3.2 percent compared to the first half of 2020, and 54.6 percent lower than the first half of 2019. The company’s other brands include Samsonite, Tumi, American Tourister, and Speck.
The Group’s net sales continued to recover during the first half of 2021. After decreasing by 77.9 percent year on year during the second quarter of 2020, when most of the Group’s markets were subject to government-mandated lockdowns, the year on year decline in the Group’s net sales narrowed to 64.7 percent during the third quarter of 2020 and 58.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2020 as governments began to relax social-distancing restrictions and markets worldwide began to reopen. This positive trend continued into 2021 with the decline in the Group’s net sales versus the comparable periods in 2019 narrowing to 57.3 percent during the first quarter of 2021, and further improvements to a decrease of 52.2 percent during the second quarter of 2021. This improvement was driven by the vaccination rollout; increased demand for domestic travel in the U.S.; sustained improvement in China; and Europe’s re-emergence from lockdown (despite a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, continued government-mandated lockdowns and the delayed roll-out of vaccines, which slowed the pace of sales recovery in certain markets including India, Japan and Chile),
Commenting on the results, Kyle Gendreau, CEO, said, “We are very encouraged by Samsonite’s performance in the first half of 2021, particularly during the second quarter. With the vaccination rollout and increased demand for domestic travel in the United States, sustained improvement in China and Europe’s re-emergence from lockdown, the Group’s net sales recovery noticeably accelerated during June 2021. Compared to the corresponding months in 2019, June 2021 net sales were lower by 48.2 percent, a considerably better performance compared to the net sales declines of 54.7 percent and 54.1 percent recorded in May 2021 and April 2021, respectively. Overall, net sales for the second quarter of 2021 were lower by 52.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2019, a marked improvement from the 57.3 percent decline in first quarter of 2021 versus the first quarter of 2019. This positive momentum has continued into July 2021, with the decline in net sales further narrowing to 40.9 percent when compared to July 2019.”
“Additionally, the Group’s gross margin improved from 48.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 52.4 percent in the second quarter of 2021, with June 2021 gross margin coming in at 55.0 percent. More significantly, we recorded our fourth quarter of sequential improvement in Adjusted EBITDA to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA of US$11.5 million for the second quarter of 2021, an important milestone on Samsonite’s road to recovery. This represents an improvement of US$139.3 million from the Adjusted EBITDA loss of US$127.8 million recorded during the second quarter of 2020 and underscores our progress in achieving more than US$200.0 million in annualized run-rate fixed cost savings from our comprehensive cost reduction program implemented during 2020 and into 2021, as well as our continued focus on expense controls. While we recognize that challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic persist, we remain confident in our progress and strong positive momentum.”
Photo courtesy Gregory
