Chris Huang's questions to Ermenegildo Zegna (ZGN) leadership • Q1 2024
Question
Chris Huang of Morgan Stanley inquired about current business trends, asking for an indication of performance in April and how March compared to the overall quarter. He also sought quantification of Zegna DTC trends by consumer nationality, specifically for Chinese and local European clients, and asked for more detail on the expected magnitude of the Thom Browne wholesale channel reduction in coming quarters.
Answer
Group COO and CFO Gianluca Tagliabue responded, stating that the March exit rate for DTC was in line with the quarterly trend. For Zegna's DTC channel, he noted that the decline in spending by Chinese nationals was closer to mid-single digits, while demand from Europeans remained solid with double-digit growth. Regarding Thom Browne, Tagliabue clarified that while the wholesale decline in the next quarter would be much lower than Q1's 50% drop, it was still expected to be in the double-digit range.