Natuzzi Q1 Loss Widens as Sales Fall 4%

May 30, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Economic News, Industry   

The company said the bottom line was hurt by a charge of 9.3 million euros (about $10.4 million) that was set aside after the Italian Supreme Court denied the company’s appeal of a lawsuit brought by two former employees regarding layoffs at its factories last year. 

Without the charge, the loss would have been 1.7 million euros, or about $1.9 million. 

In last year’s first quarter, Natuzzi’s net loss totaled 200,000 euros, or about $223,500.

Sales for the quarter ended March 31 totaled 115.9 million euros, or about $129.5 million. That was down from 120.7 million euros, or about $134.9 million in last year’s first quarter.

Sales from its 69 company-owned retail stores were up 13.8% to 12.1 million euros, or about $13.5 million. Same-store sales were up 2.3%, and the average ticket grew 3.3%.

The company said it plans to open eight new stores by the end of the year.

"The first quarter of 2017 was disappointing, but not discouraging,” said Chairman Pasquale Natuzzi. “Our industry, like most retail, faced very difficult challenges caused by the global political environment which in turn caused consumers to hold back their spending. Growth remains the singular priority in our restructuring, and while the first quarter did not show growth overall, we did experience strong results in our direct retail operations.”