Bulgari slumped into net loss in 2009: company

Italian luxury jeweller Bulgari said on Monday it fell into a net loss of E47 million ($A70.52 million) last year and its turnover plunged 13.8 per cent to E926.6 million euros ($A1.39 billion).
The top-end jewellery and luxury goods maker had made a profit of E82.9 million euros ($A124.38 million) in 2008.
"It is important to note that sales increased over the year," from a 30.6 per cent drop in the first quarter to a 2.7 per cent dip in the fourth quarter, Bulgari said in a statement.
Turnover in Europe was down by 16.7 per cent, in the Americas by 31.6 per cent and in Japan by 22.9 per cent.
For the rest of the world, including the Middle East, turnover was up 12.2 per cent.
Bulgari also noted that sales were up by 3.3 per cent for the year at its own stores, while suffering at other outlets, notably department stores that massively reduced their stocks in the face of the global economic downturn.
"The financial results of 2009 were heavily affected by the global crisis in the financial markets and its effects on demand for goods and services," Bulgari's chief executive officer Francesco Trapani said in the statement.
Noting that the first two months of 2010 "showed a high single-digit increase in turnover," Trapani predicted that "we can reasonably expect a mid-single-digit increase in turnover" for the year.
The board of directors proposed a dividend of five euro cents per share, the statement said.