Benetton reports heavy 2023 loss
Italian fashion giant Benetton’s net loss almost tripled to €230 million (RM1.17 billion) last year, amid a row between the brand’s co-founder and its current CEO.
This includes a write-down of €150 million, according to sources close to the group.
Since 2013, it has accumulated losses of more than €1 billion.
Turnover last year was €1.09 billion, practically unchanged from 2022.
The company recorded an operational loss of €113 million.
The family holding company, Edizione, will invest €260 million in coming years for a “reorganisation and relaunch plan”, the sources said.
It has already invested €350 million over the previous three years.
Luciano Benetton, the 89-year-old co-founder of the textile empire, on Saturday announced he was stepping down as chairman after accusing CEO Massimo Renon of ruining its accounts.
He told Corriere della Sera newspaper that Renon had left “a hole of €100 million” after four years leading the firm.
The figures adopted on Tuesday by the board of directors were worse than the co-founde’s forecasts.
“I trusted and I was wrong. I was betrayed,“he said in the interview.
“A few months ago, I understood that something was wrong and that the image of the group that the management presented to us during board meetings was not real.”
Benetton was founded in 1965 by four brothers and sisters, who had started out selling brightly coloured jumpers door to door.
It grew into a global giant, with some 6,000 stores in 120 countries.
But the company struggled with the challenge of “fast fashion” and rival retailers such as Zara and H&M.
In 2012, Luciano handed control of the company to his son Alessandro, but in 2017 returned at the age of 82, to try to steer it back to profit.
Alessandro took the reins of the holding company, Edizione, in January 2022.