French premium fashion retailer SMCP released its Q3 and nine-month results on Tuesday, highlighting a mixed regional performance. The company reported growth in Europe and the U.S., but continued difficulties in China. For the third quarter of 2024, organic sales dipped by 0.9% to €293 million, though they climbed by 3.1% when excluding China. SMCP cited “good resilience” in both Europe and the U.S., despite the Olympic Games in Paris impacting business.
In September, SMCP noted an improvement in European sales, particularly in France. The company reported that its new autumn collections for Sandro and Maje brands have been well received, helping to kick off the season positively.
Maintaining a strict pricing approach, SMCP reduced its in-season discount rate by two points compared to Q3 2023. Over nine months, SMCP’s sales declined by 2.7% organically to €878 million but rose by 1.4% when excluding China. Sandro and Maje posted solid results across all regions outside of China.
CEO Isabelle Guichot commented, “As anticipated, our growth in the third quarter gradually improved but remains impacted by a challenging environment in China. In France, we delivered a resilient performance despite disruptions from the Olympic Games in July and August. We also achieved solid results in the rest of Europe, benefiting from our disciplined discounting strategy, and in America, where the economic climate remains unpredictable.”
She added that SMCP has continued its action plan, especially in China, and is advancing with its store network optimization and renegotiations with landlords. The company expects initial results from these efforts in 2025.
In terms of brand performance, Sandro, SMCP’s largest brand, reported a 1.3% organic sales increase in Q3 to €145.3 million, while the nine-month sales remained flat at €437.6 million. Maje saw a modest 0.5% rise in Q3 to €113.1 million, with a 2.3% drop over nine months to €332 million, indicating a recovery in the latest quarter.
The Other Brands division, which includes Claudie Pierlot and Fursac, faced a 13.1% drop in organic Q3 sales to €34.1 million, a slight improvement over the 13.6% decline in nine-month sales to €108.2 million.
Regionally, Q3 sales in France grew 0.4% to €97.8 million, though they dipped 0.4% to €300.3 million over nine months. The EMEA region saw a Q3 sales increase of 5.4% to €102 million and a 2.3% rise over nine months to €293.8 million. In the Americas, Q3 sales rose by 6.6% to €45 million and 6.1% year-to-date to €129.8 million. However, the Asia-Pacific region saw an 18.6% decline in Q3 sales to €47.7 million, driven by China’s challenges, slightly less severe than the 19.5% drop to €153.9 million year-to-date.
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