GERRY WEBER International AG reported earnings results for the year ended October 31, 2014. For the period, the company generated sales revenues of EUR 852.1 million and earnings before interest and taxes of EUR 108.9 million in the financial year 2013/14. At EUR 852.1 million, sales revenues remained almost unchanged from the previous year's EUR 852.0 million.

This was primarily due to the lower-than-expected revenues of the Wholesale segment as well as the challenging market conditions for the own retail business especially during the fourth quarter of the financial year. The Retail segment, which is the company's strategic growth driver, reported an impressive 11.3% increase in sales revenues to EUR 404.9 million. This growth is attributable not only to the newly opened stores but also to a 1.9% increase in domestic like-for-like sales.

That means that the GERRY WEBER Group showed a much better performance than the German fashion market as a whole, which reported a decline in sales of approx. 3% for the calendar year 2014 compared to the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 5.3% from EUR 127.4 million to EUR 134.2 million, which corresponds to an increase of the EBITDA margin from 15.0% to 15.7% Earnings before interest and taxes climbed 2.9% to EUR 108.9 million in spite of increased depreciation and amortization.

Accordingly, the EBIT margin rose from 12.4% to 12.8%. This improved profitability is due not only to strict cost management but above all to the higher revenue contribution made by the Retail segment, which increased from 42.7% in the previous year 47.5% in the financial year 2013/14. This means that the aim to increase the Retail segment's share in total sales revenues to approx.

50% was missed only by a narrow margin.