Marimekko improves earnings guidance

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 23, 2021

Finland’s Marimekko said on Wednesday that it has upgraded its profit guidance for the full year. In the half-year report last month, it had said annual net sales would be higher than the €123.6 million of the prior year and that the comparable operating profit margin would be “approximately on a par with or higher than” the previous 16.3%.

And now? The compay -- which next week drops its latest Adidas collaboration collection --  has removed the lower end of that guidance range for the operating profit margin, although the sale forecast remains unchanged. That means “higher than” 16.3% is the new guidance.

The shift comes after it said the uncertainties linked to the pandemic situation for the rest of the year have reduced.

This is important as the biggest chunk of the firm’s euro-denominated net sales and earnings tend to come in its second half due to the seasonal nature of its business.

However, it continues to estimate that the relative growth of net sales will slow down during H2 as the easy comparisons (given that the pandemic had an “exceptionally negative effect on net sales” during the first six months of 2020) give way to a period when comparisons get tougher.

And despite the pandemic-linked uncertainties reducing, that does’t mean they’ve gone away completely. Covid has caused disruption in global supply chains and Marimekko hasn’t been immune to this. It said that if the disruptions continue, they could impact the availability of products during the rest of the year and consequently affect net sales and profitability.

Back in August, the company had said that first-half net sales grew 28% to €61.8 million, boosted by a favourable trend in wholesale and retail sales in Finland, growing wholesale sales in the Asia-Pacific region and Scandinavia, as well as increased licensing income in the EMEA region. H1 operating profit rose to €11.1 million from €3.9 million.