Italian retailer OVS maintains momentum after annual profit grows

(Reuters) - Italian clothing retailer OVS had a good start to 2023 after posting double-digit growth in net sales and core profit in the last fiscal year, with all of its brands performing well, it said on Wednesday.

OVS posted an 11.3% increase in net sales to 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) and a 22.4% growth in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 180.2 million euros in the fiscal year ended in January.

Since February, the Italian retailer said it had increased like-for-like sales by more than 10%.

The group, whose other brands include Stefanel and Upim, also said it would pay a dividend of 0.06 euro per share, an increase of 50% compared to last year.

Shares in OVS on the Milan stock exchange rose by more than 2% after the release of the results and closed up 1.15%.

($1 = 0.9128 euros)

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani, Federica Urso, editing by Gianluca Semeraro, Alvise Armellini)