SMCP Group has "fantastic" year with sales up 16%

French accessible luxury brand group SMCP (Sandro Maje Claudie Pierlot) had a "fantastic" 2017 with sales up 16% at €912m, a performance which exceeded its targets.

The "balanced growth" was achieved via store openings and a strong like-for-like sales growth of +7.5%. The group said it had achieved a "very dynamic performance across all brands and regions in 2017 outpacing the market", with further market share gains in France and international sales up +27.1%, and now accounting for 59% of total sales.

Digital sales up were up +46% and now account for 12% of total sales, while the group opened net 107 new points of sale in the year taking its total to 1,332 points of sale in 38 markets.

Chief executive Daniel Lalonde said: "SMCP has once again posted a fantastic year in terms of net sales and strategic network expansion across all regions and brands. We have opened doors in prestigious locations, set foot in new territories, further developed our omnichannel services, launched new ecommerce sites and have kept offering amazing collections throughout the year."

"This success confirms the relevance of our business model and strategy focusing on pursuing organic growth, expanding our network in our key markets, accelerating on digital, menswear and accessories. We have exceeded our yearly growth objective and we confirm our full-year 2017 guidance on EBITDA margin," Lalonde added.

SMCP said its AW17 collections had been well received with Q4 sales up +14.1% at €256m and it had a successful holiday trading period, despite tough market conditions in October. During the final quarter it opened 37 new points of sale and in October it launched the new Maje and Sandro eyewear collections at the Silmo trade show. In France it further developed its omnichannel capabilities with the full roll-out of its "store-to-web" concept for Maje.

On region by region basis, APAC had an "outstanding" year with sales up 40%. Some 50 points of sale were opened in the region with 37 of them going into Greater China. EMEA was up 27% and accounted for 48 new store openings, which mostly took place in Italy and Germany, while the Americas were up 18% and had 15 new openings. Its home market of France was up 3%.

On a brand by brand basis, Sandro, which offers both womenswear and menswear, was up 21% thanks to good growth across both categories and the brand accounted for 53 of the new store openings throughout the year (in London, Sandro opened a new store on Regent Street).

Maje was up 10% and had 39 new openings, most notably in Greater China, while Claudie Pierlot was up 16%, which the group said was testament to increasing brand awareness in EMEA.

Sandro was founded by Evelyne Chetrite in 1984 (Sandro Homme arrived in 2007) and her sister Judith Milgrom established Maje in 1998. The brands were originally set up on a wholesale model but pivoted to focus on opening their own retail stores in the early 2000s. In 2009 the business acquired Claudie Pierlot which had been established by the designer of the same name in 1984.

The group was listed on the Euronext exchange in Paris in October of last year.