Marcolin approves quarterly report at September 30, 2004

The Board of Directors of Marcolin SpA, which met yesterday at its head office in Longarone, approved the Group's quarterly report at September 30, 2004.

During the first nine months of the year, consolidated billings were amounting approximately at 128.1 million euros, a 12% increase compared to the same period of the previous financial year; at constant exchange rates, the Group's sales would have shown an increase of about 15%.

The analysis of billings by geographical area shows a significant increase in sales on the domestic market (approx. +23%), on the European market (approx. +14%) and excellent growth in sales in other world markets (+39%). Income from sales was good, especially by the French (+43%), Spanish (+20%) and German (+11%) subsidiaries.

Making a particular contribution to the overall growth in turnover were the lines by Roberto Cavalli Eyewear (approx. +64%), Dolce & Gabbana Eyewear (approx. +32%) and Miss Sixty Glasses (+28%). The trend in the American subsidiary's billings has also been satisfactory with regards to Kenneth Cole lines in the Department Store channel, and sales will be extended to the optics channel starting January 2005.

Ebitda was around 11% of billings (approx. 7% at September 30, 2003) and corresponds to about 13.5 million euros. Ebit was almost 6% of billings (approx. 1% at September 30, 2003) and corresponds to approximately 7.5 million euros. The Group's pre-tax profits at September 30, 2004, were approximately 5 million euros.

With reference to the Marcolin Usa subsidiary, the improvement in margins has also been possible thanks to the positive effects of the reorganization plan begun during the previous financial year and more or less completed with regard to the guidelines. The downturn in revenues recorded by the US subsidiary was due mainly to the euro/dollar exchange rate; at constant rates sales would in fact have shown an increase of around 8%.

The Group's net financial position of about 40.9 million euros is a significant improvement compared to September 30, 2003 (approx. 6 million euros) and to December 31, 2003 (approx. 3 million euros); improvement also in the debt/equity ratio, which at September 30, 2004 stood at 0.69 compared to 0.82 at December 31, 2003.

Maurizio Marcolin, the Group's Chief Executive for the Style & Licensing area, commented after the Board Meeting: 'Although it has noted that the licensing agreement with Dolce & Gabbana will not be renewed on January 1, 2006, the Company Management is confident that the growth of the brands in its portfolio will be consolidated and, at the same time, it confirms that negotiations for the acquisition of new licenses are underway'.

Lastly, it must be pointed out that the positive results for this part of the year have also been confirmed by the considerable success of the new collections presented at Silmo, and mirror the company's ability to produce original and differentiated collections, especially for the fashion segment.