American fashion group Guess has recovered well from the corona crisis. In the second quarter, sales returned to close to pre-pandemic levels, while profits ended significantly higher.
(Almost) back to normal
Between May and July, the company’s turnover rose more than 57 % to 628.6 million dollars (530 million euros) compared to 2020, which was only 8 % below its pre-corona level. Guess continued to feel the impact of the corona crisis in lower demand, capacity constraints and temporary store closures. On average, stores were closed for about 5 % of the quarter, especially in Europe and Canada. In the meantime, all branches are open again.
The fashion brand realised an operating profit of 87.4 million dollars (75 million euros), almost double that of the second quarter of 2019. In the same period last year, there was still a loss of 14.3 million dollars.
Guess expects similar results for the rest of the year. That means slightly lower to flat sales (compared to pre-corona level), with a profit margin close to 10 %. In the longer term, the company is very optimistic: it aims for a profit margin of 12 % over two years.
