Sales at Italian fashion group Tod’s in 2021 rose by almost 40 percent, the first increase after five years of consecutive declines, beating market expectations.

Thanks to an acceleration in Europe and the United States in the fourth quarter, last year’s revenues totalled 883.8 million euros ($997.10 million), and stood just a touch below pre-pandemic levels, the luxury leather goods maker said on Tuesday.

That compared with an analyst consensus distributed by the company of 842 million euros on average.

Tod’s said full-year sales came in 2.6 percent below their 2019 level at constant exchange rates. However, in the final quarter of last year, revenues grew by 41.6 percent and came in almost 10 percent above their pre-pandemic level.

“These sales figures will allow our group to return to positive operating results already in fiscal year 2021,” chief executive Diego Della Valle, the largest shareholder, said in a statement.

Tod’s will release full results on March 10.

Della Valle added that early feedback from the new spring/summer collections allowed him to look forward to 2022 “with optimism”.

Tod’s, famous for its Gommino loafers, launched a new strategy in late 2017 to revamp its brands and lure younger consumers, but the health crisis has hampered its efforts.

In 2020, sales fell by 30 percent due to the COVID-19 emergency, one of the worst performances in the industry.

By Claudia Cristoferi

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