Natuzzi saw sales grow by +23.1% in Q1, thanks to a robust order backlog. The Italian business' positive monentum has continued through the first 18 weeks of the year, surpassing comparatives in 2019 and 2020, the brand states.
Natuzzi expanded its gross profit margins, offsetting the growing cost of raw materials, and took its operating profit to its highest level since Q4 2016. It generated a profit of €5.9m in the period – including a gain of €4.8m from the disposal of its polyurethane manufacturing subsidiary (see related).
Since 31st March, 2020, available cash increased by +83.5% to €54.1m.
On 10th May 2021, Natuzzi's board approved new governance, to "accelerate growth momentum and strengthen Natuzzi’s competitive positioning in the global design and affordable luxury furniture market", appointing Antonio Achille as CEO (effective from 1st June). As executive chairman, Pasquale Natuzzi will reportedly focus on long-term strategies, while "strongly committed" to the company's success.
Pasquale comments: “We are pleased to see that the continued effort to navigate through these challenging times has started to translate into positive results. Q1 revenues improved sequentially. We are also encouraged by the double-digit increase of our first 18 weeks written orders versus the same period of 2020, and single-digit improvement versus 2019. The demand-driven momentum, that has started in the second part of last year, continues, with our branded business growing at double-digit, and all main geographies, mainly USA and China, reporting written sales above pre-pandemic level.
"Europe, which was still affected by heavy lockdowns in Q1, is now catching up rapidly as restrictions are lifted and stores reopen. Encouragingly, April global order flow accelerated by +16% versus our Q1 pace.
"As we continue to execute on our strategic initiatives, we achieved significant gross margin expansion – Q1 margins increased more proportionally than sales, thanks to our effort to streamline SG&A costs and improve production efficiency.
"We have also carefully increased the retail price of our collections, confirming the strengths of our brands and direct distribution network. These actions allowed us to more than compensate for the increase in raw material and freight costs, which is impacting the economy globally, a trend that we continue to carefully monitor.
"We also showed a significant improvement in the cash position, as a result of topline growth combined with a tight discipline on costs, and renewed attention to productivity."
In terms of invoiced sales, Natuzzi saw sales grow by +5.9% in western and southern Europe in Q1, while written orders for the first 18 weeks of 2021 were up +26.6% YoY (but down -16.9% Yo2Y).
