MILAN — Amid tariff and forex challenges, Italy’s Safilo Group continues to hold strong. The Padua, Italy-based eyewear group, which has contemporary and lifestyle brands like Carrera, David Beckham, Tommy Hilfiger, Boss, Carolina Herrera and Marc Jacobs in its portfolio, saw sales and margins improve in the first nine months of year, as the sales performance in Asia-Pacific and Europe offset lackluster results in the Rest of the World category and North America.
Safilo closed the first nine months of 2025 with sales slightly higher, 0.1 percent, to 758.4 million euros from 757.4 million euros a year earlier. At constant exchange rates, revenues rose 2.2 percent.
In the third quarter, sales decreased 2.1 percent to 220.8 million euros, compared with 225.4 million euros in the same period last year. At constant exchange rates, sales were up by 2.1 percent.
Gross profit totaled 131.7 million euros in the third quarter, a decrease of 1.2 percent compared to the gross margin in the third quarter of 2024. Gross margin increased by 60 basis points, rising to 59.7 percent, in the same period.
Prescription frames continued to grow across all regions, while sunglass sales boosted sales in Europe. In terms of brands Carrera, David Beckham, Marc Jacobs, Boss, Kate Spade and Carolina Herrera led the positive performance.
The firm’s efforts to diversify its geographical footprint to offset a challenging North American market and continued tariff pressure helped boost margins in the third quarter.
Its adjusted EBITDA margin in the three month period rose 210 basis points to 10 percent from 7.9 percent versus in the third quarter the same period a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the third quarter surged 24.3 percent to 22.1 million euros compared with a year earlier. This figure excluded nonrecurring expenses of around 1 million euros due to restructuring costs.
Angelo Trocchia
Courtesy of Safilo
“In the quarter, our operations continued to face pressure from tariffs. Yet the effectiveness of our mitigation actions, together with favorable price/mix dynamics and the gradual normalization of logistics and marketing costs, led to a year on year improvement…,” the firm said in a statement.
As of Sept. 30, net debt stood at 30.4 million euros, compared with 42.4 million euros at the end of June. On an adjusted basis and before IFRS 16, a European accounting rule that requires firms to record all future lease rents as debt on the balance sheet was applied, this figure was positive at 10.7 million euros.
“Thanks to this solid operating performance and our disciplined working capital management, we delivered another quarter of robust cash flow generation, which enabled us, for the first time in our history, to reach a positive net financial position, pre-IFRS 16,” Safilo Group chief executive officer Angelo Trocchia said.
In its first-half results in July, Safilo reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade policies spurred the acceleration of Safilo’s supply chain diversification, and selective price adjustments in the U.S. In May, the firm said it also continued to source from South East Asia to reduce the company’s reliance on China with the goal to bring China-sourced production below 40 percent within the next 12 months. At the time, the firm said it was evaluating an expansion of its U.S. manufacturing footprint with a potential increase in capacity at its facility in Utah.
A Mixed Global Performance
In terms of sales performance, Europe and Asia-Pacific outperformed.
Sales in Europe edged up 3 percent to 334 million euros in the first nine months, and rose 6.7 percent to 90.9 million euros.
In the nine months, sales in Asia-Pacific surged 9.9 percent to 44 million euros, and inched up 1.9 percent in the third quarter to 13.8 million euros.
In the first nine months of 2025, sales in North America fell 1.1 percent to 317.8 million euros and plunged 6.6 percent in the third quarter to 96.9 million euros as the dollar declined against the euro.
Sales in the Rest of the World area dropped 12.7 percent to 62.7 million euros and plummeted 16.7 percent in the third quarter to 19.2 million euros.
Improved Net Debt and Cash Flow
As of Sept. 30, Safilo Group’s net debt stood at 30.4 million euros compared with 42.2 million euros at the end of June. Before IFRS or European accounting standards were applied, this figure was positive for the first time in the firm’s history, at 10.7 million euros.
Free cash flow increased to 20.7 million euros, versus 16.9 million euros in the third quarter of 2024.
Eyewear by David Beckham by Safilo.
courtesy of Safilo
