Salvatore Ferragamo returns to profit, but Japan is the one region its DTC growth skipped in H1
Salvatore Ferragamo's direct-to-consumer business grew in every region in H1 2026 except Japan, which fell 1.0% for the half — before turning positive again in the second quarter alone.
Salvatore Ferragamo returned to profit in the first half of 2026 — group operating profit of €21m, against a €3m adjusted loss a year earlier — on a direct-to-consumer business the Florence house says grew in every region except one: Japan.
According to the half-year results the company's board approved on 3 August, first-half revenue came to €468m, down 1.3% at reported exchange rates but up 1.9% at constant rates, as a DTC channel up 6.1% at constant rates offset an 11.2% decline in wholesale. Gross margin widened to 69.2% from 67.7% a year earlier, which Ferragamo attributed to a richer full-price mix, and EBITDA nearly doubled to €90m from €73m.
Japan was the one region where that DTC growth broke down. Net sales there fell 1.0% at constant exchange rates for the half, to €34.7m — 7.6% of group net sales, down from 8.6% a year earlier — and the company's own regional breakdown states DTC posted gains at constant rates "across all the regions, except Japan." The second quarter alone told a different story: Japan's net sales rose 2.8% at constant rates in Q2, which Ferragamo attributed to the performance of its primary directly-run stores.
North America was the group's strongest market, up 15.4% at constant rates for the half on double-digit growth in both DTC and wholesale, while Europe fell 8.6% and Asia Pacific overall dropped 3.0% on continued wholesale weakness. Group net profit for the half came to a modest €1.5m, against an adjusted loss of €16m a year earlier, when a €41m impairment charge had pushed the business into the red.
A single currency-adjusted quarter doesn't yet prove Japan has turned — Ferragamo doesn't break out how much of the Q2 gain came from inbound tourist spending versus resident demand. But it lines up with the strategy the company describes running everywhere: retail execution and full-price selling over wholesale volume, tested now in the one market where the group had been losing ground.