Düsseldorf (Reuters) - Hugo Boss has achieved record figures for the second year in a row despite the economic downturn in 2023.

The men's and women's outfitter announced on Tuesday that the fourth quarter had provided a tailwind. "Sales and profits rose by double digits in the important final quarter despite the current difficult global market environment," explained CEO Daniel Grieder. Nevertheless, investors had expected a higher profit. The share fell by ten percent at times to 59.60 euros and led the list of losers in the MDax small cap index by some distance.

Fourth-quarter sales were in line with expectations, but EBIT was lower, commented analysts at JP Morgan. Higher marketing expenses may have had a negative impact. Experts at Deutsche Bank explained that EBIT was exactly in line with their estimates, but had missed analysts' expectations overall.

According to initial calculations, turnover increased by 13 percent to 1.177 billion euros in the fourth quarter. EBIT climbed by 17 percent to 121 million. All regions contributed to growth, especially Asia with an increase of 33 percent and America with 18 percent. Boss also scored in the online business with an increase of 26 percent.

For the year as a whole, sales increased by 15 percent to 4.197 billion euros, reaching the upper end of the forecast range. The operating result (EBIT) soared by 22 percent to 410 million euros.

With the key figures achieved last year, Boss believes it is well on the way to achieving the targets set for 2025. These envisage sales of five billion euros and an EBIT of at least 600 million. On March 7, the Executive Board plans to publish the full balance sheet and provide an outlook for the current year.

(Report by Anneli Palmen, edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)