La Nouvelle Tribune
Next year, powerful labels will face their old dilemma of what to do with excess cash
This year, luxury companies were more likely to try to back out of deals than to sign new ones. That could soon change as cash piles up on the larger playersâ balance sheets, while independent brands come under pressure to invest.
Deal-making in the sector has been understandably muted during the pandemic. This month brought an exception: Italian apparel brand Moncler announced a tie-up with Stone Island in a transaction that valued its smaller streetwear competitor at â¬1.2 billion, or $1.4 billion at current exchange rates. Otherwise, the tone of 2020 was set by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuittonâs legal push to get out of its pre-pandemic $16 billion bid for U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co., which was eventually settled out of court with a minor price discount.
Dec. 15, 2020 9:54 am ET
Zaraâs owner is having to shut stores again in the crucial run up to Christmas. The fashion retailerâs fast-growing online business may not patch the hole as well as might be hoped.
Spain-based Inditex , the worldâs largest clothing retailer, said on Tuesday that sales over the three months through October fell 10% at constant exchange rates compared with the same period of 2019. The company had almost recovered to precrisis sales levels when the second wave struck. Markets like Spain and Ireland imposed tighter rules on nonessential retailers from mid-October.
With new restrictions coming into force this week in parts of the U.K., Germany and the Netherlands, the question is whether Inditexâs digital businessâwhich is much larger today than it was before the pandemicâcan claw back lost store sales any faster than it did during the first wave of restrictions. The answer seems to be a qualified no based on the data s