Marimekko upbeat as Q4 shines, despite ongoing issues in EMEA

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 15, 2022

Marimekko has reported “excellent” net sales and profits for Q4 and said that “2021 was the best [year] in the company history”.

Quarterly net sales grew by 29% to €48.1 million and in its domestic Finnish market, net sales rose 32%. International sales were up 23%.

Sales were boosted by the “favourable trend” in wholesale and retail sales in Finland, by strong wholesale in Asia Pacific and Scandinavia, and retail strength in North America.

That said, action taken to suppress the ‘grey’ export market dented EMEA wholesale.

Operating profit improved to €7.6 million from €4.8 million and  comparable operating profit grew by 35% to €7.6 million.

But while the higher sales boosted its earnings, an increase in fixed costs, as well as a lower relative sales margin, had a negative effect.

Most of Marimekko’s own stores were open and festive season sales “went very well”, both in physical stores and the e-store, as omnichannel retail sales grew by 26%. At the same time, wholesale increased by 33%. 

For the year, net sales rose 23% to €152.2 million and operating profit improved to €31.2 million from €18.8 million. The company expects further growth in the current year.

CEO Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko said of the Q4 and annual figures: “The key factors behind our strong performance included our long-term efforts to modernise our brand and lifestyle collections, strengthening our digital business and the omnichannel customer experience as well as increasing our international brand awareness from one year to the next. 

“The new operating practices we have adopted during the pandemic and our agility to react to the constantly changing operating environment were also important factors.”