Ferragamo’s new chief executive Marco Gobbetti will take the helm from Jan. 1, the Italian luxury group said on Tuesday, after beating analysts’ expectations with a 17.4 percent increase in third quarter sales at constant exchange rates.

Revenues rose by 35 percent to 785 million euros ($907 million) in the first nine months of the year, mainly driven by strong growth in the United States in the last quarter.

That was still down on the 994 million euros booked in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic hit.

However, operating profit increased to 19 million euros in the third quarter, above pre-Covid levels.

Analysts had expected revenue to rise by around 10 percent in the quarter, with a 16 million euros operating profit, according to a Refinitiv consensus.

Most luxury groups have now surpassed pre-Covid levels. But Ferragamo was hit harder than most by the fallout from the coronavirus crisis last year and is still suffering from its high exposure to shops in airports and travel spending.

In addition, the health emergency broke out just as the family-owned firm was striving to revamp a brand famous for shoes worn by Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn.

The Florentine group announced its new chief executive in June in a bid to speed up its relaunch, following Gobbetti’s success with Burberry’s’s turnaround.

By Claudia Cristoferi; Editing by Mark Potter

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