Gucci thinks Alessandro Michele’s decadent universe of crystal-coated sunglasses and painted handbags can become nearly as profitable as Louis Vuitton’s dipped canvas totes.
After growing 45 per cent last year, Gucci’s annual revenue of 6.2 billion euros ($7.3bn) surpassed that of rival Hermes International. Now the Italian brand, owned by Kering of France, is setting its sights on $12bn, according to an investor presentation Thursday.
While not giving a time frame, Gucci also said it aims to widen its operating margin to at least 40 per cent after reaching 34 per cent last year. The new target would be nipping at the heels of Louis Vuitton, whose margin is estimated at being the highest in luxury.
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Gucci’s ambition is to become “a definitive 21st century statement of contemporary coolness,” Michele said in the presentation.
To achieve the new goals, Gucci plans to increase retail space about 3 per cent a year and triple online sales, which reached 270 million euros last year. It’s also concentrating more on its own store network as it aims to reduce its reliance on distributors. Wholesale revenue was 14 per cent of the total in 2017, down from 16 per cent the prior year.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
On racial profiling at airports
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
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