Samsonite sales surge as it prepares aggressive drive on retail sales

Samsonite’s net sales rocketed to a record-breaking $2.35bn (£1.59bn) for the year ending December 31, while adjusted EBITDA was up 13.8% to $384.3m (£260.1m).

Net profits also increased 5.8% to $186.3m (£126.1m), representing year-on-year growth of 5.8%.

Retail sales made up just 20% of its overall revenue, but new chief executive Ramesh Tainwala wants to grow that aggressively as part of his strategy.

Tainwala hopes Samsonite’s direct retail sales will reach 50% across the globe in the “medium term” through selling brands including JS Trunk, Hartmann, American Tourister and Lipault.

Tainwala said: “The group’s strong performance demonstrates the resilience of the multi-brand, multi-category and multichannel model we have established over the last few years as part of our aim to strategically diversify the business.

“In line with this strategy, last year we acquired three very different, yet complementary brands, Lipault, Speck and Gregory, which together significantly extend our product offering and which we expect will contribute considerably to our topline as we leverage our global distribution and marketing platform to expand them into new markets.

“Our most recent buy, Rolling Luggage, coming at the start of 2015, establishes a strong retail presence for us in key international airport locations as we push to expand our retail points of sales globally.

“Looking ahead, we will stay the course of our clear and defined strategy to achieve our goals for sustained growth.”