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Investing.com -- Italian luxury outerwear maker Moncler reported a stronger-than-expected rise in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, driven by robust DTC sales and resilient demand from Asia.
The company posted revenue of €829 million ($944 million) for the quarter ended March, surpassing analysts’ expectations of €817 million
The growth held steady even after excluding currency effects, with revenues up 1% at both constant and current exchange rates.
Sales for the Moncler brand rose 2%, again unaffected by currency movements, with Asia outpacing Europe and the Americas in performance.
Meanwhile, revenue at Moncler’s smaller Stone Island brand dropped 5%, despite a double-digit increase in direct sales. Here too, Asia proved to be the strongest-performing region.
The company’s wholesale segment took a hit due to timing shifts in deliveries between the first and second quarters versus last year, as well as an ongoing search for a distributor.
CEO Remo Ruffini noted the volatile macroeconomic environment, noting that Moncler responded with "strong operational discipline" to stay on course.
"The beginning of the year was marked by ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical complexities, which we continue to navigate with strong operational discipline and sharp focus on our brand-first strategy," said CEO
"This approach enabled us to achieve solid growth in the DTC channel across both brands in the first quarter, despite an exceptionally high comparable base," Ruffini added.
While it's just the beginning of the personal Luxury Goods sector’s earnings season, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analysts believe that Moncler "will likely emerge as a clear outperformer."
"Moncler’s performance in 1Q is also reassuring as it comes after a disappointing performance from LVMH earlier in the week," analysts led by Edouard Aubin said in a note.
Pratyhush Thakur contributed to this report.