Kering to open factories in Italy and the US

Kering reforms its logistic network in Europe and the US. The French group will build a new warehouse in Trecate, near the Italian city of Novara, and a new factory in New Jersey, to improve the efficiency, especially in the online channel. The measure will affect near the half of the 800 employees that work in Cadempino, near the Swiss city of Lugano, who will move to the new complex in Italy.

The Italian project, that is expected to be ready in 2022, responds to the necessity of the group to build a new factory in Italy after the growth that the company has experienced within the country in the last years. The group has pointed that it will commit to work with all the people involved to mitigate the impact of the employment.

“Customers’ expectations are progressing, requiring faster deliveries and a perfect experience in all the channels”, pointed the company. “As a result, Keering is continuously seeking to improve the efficiency of its logistic network”, to win in the one-channel distribution and reduce waiting times.

In the Italian factory of 160,000 square meters there were distributed brands like Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta o Pomellato

Company’s move will impact all group’s brands, from Gucci and Balenciaga to Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta and Pomellato.

Kering has a logistic infrastructure in Switzerland of 20 warehouses that, according to the company “have collapsed and are more inefficient every time”. The new Italian factory will have a 160,000 square meters space, while New Jersey’s factory, which is already under construction, will be “a more bigger and modern building”, as stated by the company.

The fashion group has recently signed an agreement with the Italian Tax Agency to pay 1,250 million euros, after being accused in 2017 of evade taxes through its subsidiary Luxury Goods International (LGI).

From this situation on, the company has affirmed that the move from Switzerland to Italy responds to a commercial policy of the group and has nothing to do with the fiscal problems in which has been immersed with Italian Tax Agency.

The luxury French conglomerate, owner of brands like Saint Laurent or Bottega Veneta, ended the 2018 exercise with a result of 3,714.9 million euros, the double than the benefit obtained in 2017.

The group positioned its volume of business in 13,665.2 million euros, a 26.3% more than in its past fiscal exercise. The company grew in all the geographical regions where operates. The gross operating result (ebitda) of Kering reached the 4,435.7 million euros, a 42% more.