While expanding increasing its international presence, iconic Finnish design house Marimekko enjoyed a successful start to the year.
The Marimekko Group’s result for the first quarter of 2008 indicates that trends in Marimekko’s business operations were in line with expectations during the period from January through March, while the company’s positive financial outlook for 2008 was maintained unchanged.
Over the first quarter of 2008, the Group’s profit after tax increased 22% to EUR 1.37 million from the EUR 1.12 million posted last year. Moreover, the operating profit for the period was up a similar 22% from Q1 last year, rising from EUR 1.5 million to just over EUR 1.8 million. Earnings per share came in at EUR 0.17 (2007: EUR 0.14).
In terms of the percentage share of net sales, exports and income from international operations increased by around 3%-points to 34.3% of the total figure of EUR 18.6 million, and were up by over 20%, while domestic sales improved 5.3% in value compared with the same period a year ago.
The 5% rise in Marimekko’s share price was a bright spot on the Helsinki Stock Exchange on Tuesday, as the OMX index closed down 0.64%.
