The handover at the top of the Prada Group between Patrizio Bertelli, 75, and his son Lorenzo, 33? It will be done in a few years, but no date has been set, and to hear those directly involved, it seems that it is not imminent. “Did he say it will happen in three years? I don’t believe it ”, smiled Lorenzo during the Capital Markets Day, the meeting that the Prada Group – with the entire summit present – organized with analysts and journalists at the Prada Foundation in Milan.
“Whether it’s three or four years it doesn’t matter – added the father – the important thing is to do it correctly. I have to take my age into account, of course, but I have no anxiety ”. And Lorenzo further specified: “I don’t know if it will be two, three or five years, the important thing is to plan the generational succession well because when you do things quickly they don’t succeed well, and therefore the topic is on the table in the family”.
In 2021 results “significantly higher” than 2019
The meeting served to outline the future of the Prada Group, listed in Hong Kong (where there is no quarterly obligation, only half-yearly and annual data are disseminated), which at the end of 2021 – explained Bertelli and the first line of manager – will touch “results significantly higher than 2019” (when net revenues were 3.2 billion euros with ebit at 307 million). The pre-Covid target had already been achieved in the first quarter of the year.
Overall, the first nine months of 2021 saw retail sales (which account for 88% of total revenues) rise by 12% compared to 2019, with a strong acceleration in the third quarter (+ 18%). The medium-term objectives (three to five years) indicated by the group are 4.5 billion euros in revenues and an EBIT of 20 per cent.
Store productivity, target + 30-40%
Online sales, now at 7%, are expected to rise to 15% of retail sales. Stores will increase productivity by 30 to 40 percent. Investments in sustainability will be strategic, given that Prada wants to qualify as a model on both the environmental and economic-social fronts. For this reason, two ESG (environment, social, government) experts, Pamela Culpepper and Anna Maria Rugarli, will join the board of directors, bringing the number of members to 11 and making it possible to achieve the goal of gender equality.