PADOVA, Italy--The Board of Directors for Sàfilo Group S.p.A. (SFLG.MI) released the results for the first quarter 2008 and reported a 4.5 percent decrease in net sales and a 36.7 percent decrease in net profit.

“We were aware that the first three months would have been the most challenging of the year, due also to the difficult economic climate which worldwide markets are currently experiencing,” according to Vittorio Tabacchi, chairman of Sàfilo.

“The strong development of the retail channel and the strengthening of our structures in the wholesale markets confirm the soundness of the development path undertaken by Sàfilo.”

Net sales for the first quarter of 2008 were ?326 million versus ?341.4 million the same time last year, resulting in a loss of 4.5 percent. Net profit for the company for the first quarter of 2008 was ?13.2 million, versus ?20.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, a loss of 36.7 percent. According to a statement from the company, the performance of the first quarter 2008 was influenced by the strong devaluation of the U.S. dollar, which penalized by more than 5 percent all the main lines of the income statement. At constant exchange rates net sales registered a growth of 0.9 percent.

The North American market, in the first 3 months of the year, showed an increase of 14.9 percent (+2.4 percent at constant exchange rates), due to good performance in the sales of the prescription frame collections in the independent opticians channel, and to the contribution of the Mexican Sunglass Island stores, acquired at the beginning of 2008.

Performance by Sàfilo’s retail business, which at the end of March 2008 counted 268 directly operated stores, compared to 152 in March of 2007, resulted in a growth of 71.8 percent at constant exchange rates, or 56.9 percent at current exchange rates, and is due to the two acquisitions finalized at the beginning of the year in Mexico and Australia totaling 77 stores. ■