Even a hastily launched EUR 560m savings programme could not prevent disaster: suitcase manufacturer Samsonite (Luxembourg City / Luxembourg; www.samsonite.com) suffered a drop in sales of around 57% in 2020. According to CEO Kyle Gendreau, revenue fell to EUR 1.3 bn, and EBITDA slumped EUR 600m to land EUR 184m in the red.

Gendreau said the collapse of business and private travel due to the pandemic disaster were to blame for the declines. Samsonite was probably surprised that things turned out this badly: in the spring of 2020, the group predicted a sales decrease of “only” 26%.

Significant improvement seems unlikely in the current year. The figures Gendreau presented for the first quarter of 2021 clearly show that the crisis is far from over. Although global sales increased compared to the final quarter of 2020, a look at the figures versus the first quarter of 2020 show that Samsonite is making little headway. In fact, revenue in the first quarter of this year fell more than 40% versus the year-earlier period to EUR 298m. EBITDA moved EUR 24m into the red from EUR 4.2m.

Declines in turnover were particularly strong in the European market, which was off 60%, with North America down 45%. Asia fared relatively well in comparison, as turnover fell only 23% in the first three months of 2021.

Earlier this year, Samsonite announced it was using a line of LyondellBasell’s “Circulen” polymers recycled from plastics waste for the exterior of its “Magnum Eco” suitcases (see Plasteurope.com of 30.04.2021). The is the second such collaboration.