The company, which registers the majority of its sales in Europe, announced its preliminary results showed that net sales increased by 3.5% for the period, to reach $138.9m, compared to a figure of $134.2m for the corresponding period last year.
The results also revealed that at comparable foreign currency exchange rates, consolidated third quarter net sales increased 11.4%. The company said it would reveal the full results for the 2015 third quarter by the second week in November.
Sales up in Europe, but down in the US
Breaking the results down, the quarter showed that sales in Europe increased 6.5% to $110.1m, whereas US-based sales fell by the same amount, 6.5% to reach $28.8m.
“The 16% depreciation of the euro versus the dollar from last year’s third quarter turned the 27% local currency growth of product sales for our European based operations into a much more modest increase of 6.5%,” said CEO Jean Madar.
“The currency impact was most apparent with our three largest brands, led by Jimmy Choo, where brand sales increased 46% in local currency, but only increased 23% in dollars.”
Jimmy Choo fragrances save the day
Jimmy Choo fragrance sales have been helping to fill the gap since Inter Parfums lost the Burberry fragrance license at the beginning of last year. Burberry was the company’s biggest selling fragrance brand, so the company had a significant gap to make up.
Madar noted that the Jimmy Choo Man fragrance line had sold particularly well in the United States, as well as the launch of the brand’s most recent and third fragrance for women, Jimmy Choo Illicit.
However Madar did note challenges in the US operations. He pointed out that, although the Dunhill fragrance range, which was bought up by the company to help bridge the Burberry gap, has continued to grow in the US to become its biggest brand in that market, the division still posted a 6.5% decline in sales.
Looking ahead to the full year 2015 sales, Russell Greenberg, executive vice president and chief financial officer stated, “We continue to expect 2015 net sales to be in the range of $460 million to $470 million.”