Bulgari faces 45% fall in net profits in 2008

In the year 2008, Bulgari Group faced drastic fall of 45 percent in its net profits, which amounted to $106 million. Its revenues slipped by 1.5 percent valuing at $1.4 billion, of which, category-wise, the jewellery segment suffered a loss of 2.5 percent to $573 million, watch category sales fell by 10.6 percent to $338 million. Region-wise, sale in America was down by 12.5 percent, in Europe by 1.3 percent. On the contrary, sales increased by 1.6 percent in Asian markets and by 9.1 percent in the Middle East.

The company attributes the fall in sales to the sever economic slowdown. It had also scaled up the prices of its jewels and watches, post obtaining record prices for precious metals early in 2008. The company is careful now as it anticipates a tough year ahead, but is resilient to face these tides with a closer watch on its inventory, which would help it maintain its cash flow and investments.