Van de Velde, the producer of luxury lingerie, has observed a continuing slowdown in EBIDTA that amounted to EUR 48.7 million compared with EUR 48.8 million in 2012.

There was, however, an upswing in earnings in the second half of 2013, where both EBIDTA and turnover losses of the first half of the year have been recovered, following a two-year set-back in growth for the company. “Thank to a stronger second half, all efforts of the company and its staff resulted for full year 2013 in a minimal turnover growth, though without EBIDTA growth,” commented Lucas Laureys, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Despite a slowdown in growth since the second half of 2011, the company plans to continue to follow the original strategic line in order to generate profits by bringing the lingerie to market via the most appropriate distribution channels.

Wholesale turnover

Wholesale turnover was steady in 2013 resulting in EUR 182.4 million, with a fall in the first half of the year and growth observed in the second half of 2013. European markets were stronger in 2013. Performance in southern Europe was below average. The English speaking markets were also disappointing, the company reports.

In recent years the company has systemised its approach and focused on creating more added value for specialty shops in terms of profitability and sell-out to the customer. In 2014, focus and discipline in implementation will take centre stage.

Brands

Van de Velde invests in three complementary lingerie brands. PrimaDonna is the biggest, most important brand, oriented to large cup sizes. In 2014 Swim joins PrimaDonna and Twist on the market, under a single brand name.

Marie Jo is particularly strong in the northern Europe. The brand experiences an impressive resurgence in the second half of 2013. There are also promising signs for the spring 2014.

Andres Sarda is a brand that needs to grow especially in southern Europe, the company reports. In the course of 2013 the collection’s price positioning was adapted and the fixed costs in Barcelona were drastically reduced.

Intimacy

The company was unable to reverse the decline of Intimacy and generate new growth in 2013. In mid 2013, Van de Velde launched the Consumer Board, an initiative in which over a hundred consumers give their views on the concept and suggest improvements.

Intimacy will also concentrate and consolidate in specific regions of the US. This has already led to the closure of shops in Dallas, Los Angeles and Detroit, and a stronger focus on New York.

Rigby & Peller UK

After a very tough start in the first quarter of 2013, the business recovered month by month to end the year around where it started.

The contribution to EBITDA was larger than in 2012. In early 2014 a new shop was opened in Harrogate.

Operations

Production in Tunisia was seriously disrupted as a result of social unrest in the country. This has led to in-house production falling by 12% compared to the previous year. Production in China has increased by 22% compared to 2012. As a result of that, China’s share in production rose from 47% to 52%.

Par of production in Sri Lanka was moved to a subcontractor. Van de Velde reports that the quality targets were not met and production was stopped. The new production options will be sought in the course of 2014.

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