MILAN (Reuters) -Italian luxury group Salvatore Ferragamo posted a stronger-than-expected 1.7% rise in quarterly sales, as it begins implementing turnaround measures while continuing its search for a new chief executive.
Revenues reached 221 million euros ($258 million) in the July-September period, with double digit growth in North America outweighing a slowdown in Asia, the company said on Thursday.
The figure is above a Visible Alpha analyst consensus forecast of 208 million euros.
The Florentine group, which has been hit harder than peers by the sector slowdown, said that the situation in Asia for luxury goods remained challenging, but it had improved a little in the third quarter.
Also French luxury groups Hermes, LVMH, L’Oreal and Kering this month have flagged tentative signs of a recovery after cooling demand, especially in Asia, hit luxury sales in recent quarters.
Ferragamo’s sales in the Asia Pacific region fell 10.5% in the quarter at constant currencies, while they rose 15.6% in North America.
“The tariff impact probably was overemphasised,” executive board member Ernesto Greco told analysts.
Ferragamo has been without a CEO since March, when former Burberry Chief Marco Gobbetti left after failing to revive the brand’s fortunes during his three-year tenure.
“The search process (for a new CEO) is ongoing”, Greco said.
The company, which lost finance chief Pierre La Tour in September, in July presented an action plan to stem losses.
The first measures taken under the plan contributed to the positive performance of the retail channel in the quarter, Ferragamo said.($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Editing by Gavin Jones and Valentina Za)
