New York: Valentino, the fashion house that dressed actress Chloe Sevigny at the Golden Globe Awards, said it may open more stores in 2010 after sales increased at least 10 per cent in December and January.
Retailing revenue rose at a "double-digit" pace in the last two months, Valentino Fashion Group Chief Executive Officer Stefano Sassi said in an interview in Paris.
The performance would indicate "we can grow more" this year, he said, without being specific about how many stores are likely to open.
Permira Advisers led a 5.3-billion-euro (Dh27 billion) buyout of Rome-based Valentino Fashion in May 2007, less than two years before the global recession sapped luxury goods sales. Valentino scaled back expansion plans last year to preserve cash and help service 2.3 billion euros of acquisition debt.
"I don't know if we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, but for sure the situation is getting better," Sassi said. If the market stabilises, "there will be more opportunity to grow and then more opportunity to invest".
Permira agreed in December to buy back at a discount a third of the luxury company's debt from Citigroup for 250 million euros.
That will reduce borrowings to 1.5 billion euros and allow for a new 100 million-euro credit line for the Valentino brand, Valentino Fashion said on December 23.
"On the capex [capital expenditure] side it is pretty difficult to understand how to manage because we still do not know if we are out of this huge crisis or not," Sassi said.
Permira spokeswoman Noemie de Andia declined to comment on investment plans for Valentino.
