The economic crisis affected the sales of the Bulgari Group, in the full year 2008 registering a turnover of 1,075.1 million Euro compared to 1,091.0 million Euro in 2007, with a decrease of 1.5% at current exchange rates (-0.9% at comparable exchange rates). In the fourth quarter of 2008 sales reached 312.6 million Euro compared to 346.5 million Euro in the same period of last year (-9.8% at current exchange rates and -15.5% at comparable exchange rates.

In the full year 2008, as a result of the worsening macro-economic conditions, especially from the fourth quarter, all product categories registered a decrease in sales, with the exception of perfumes. The jewellery segment, core business of the Group, fell slightly (by 1.5%); this should be considered in the high comparison base in the previous year (+20.0% in 2007). Contributing to this result, was the high jewellery segment where turnover held up very well in 2008 compared to the previous year when the Group achieved a record performance.

Watches (-10.9%) have been affected by an especially negative performance in the entry price segment, as a consequence of the decision to eliminate some product lines, by the shortages in sourcing some technical components, which resulted in losses of production volumes in the first part of the year, and finally by a general slowdown in the wholesale channel demand, more noticeable in the fourth quarter. Accessories fell by 4.1% because of a negative performance in the wholesale channel, particularly in Japan, counterbalanced by a strong double-digit sales growth in the directly owned stores for this category. Perfumes, in conclusion, rose by 13.9%.

Looking at the fourth quarter of 2008, when the effects of the current economic crisis were to be felt in full, perfumes rose by 0.7%, while sales decrease hit jewellery (-17.3% compared to a high base of +20.3% in the same quarter of 2007), watches (-28.0%) and accessories (-9.5%).

In the full year 2008 Europe fell by 1.4%, with an especially negative performance in Italy (-11.1%). The other European countries grew overall by 3.5%. The United States registered a contraction of 6.7%, compared to +21% in 2007. Asia limited its fall to 1.2% even though the results in Japan fell by 8.5% over the year.

The number of Bulgari stores at 31 December 2008 was 264, of which 164 were directly owned stores. In the full year 2008 directly owned stores posted a sales performance better than the one towards third party distributors. In the fourth quarter this performance was even stronger.

Image: Bulgari Rome

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