Safilo Achieves EBITDA Growth in First Nine Months Amid Stagnant Sales

Safilo closed the first nine months of its fiscal year flat, dragged down by a down third quarter. The Italian optics company generated a 0.1% higher turnover than in the same period, to €758.4 million, while it managed to strengthen its gross operating profit (ebitda) by 36.5%, to €91.3 million, 24.4 million more than in the same period last year.

Safilo attributes the growth of its ebitda to the “effectiveness of the mitigation actions” of the tariff impact, as well as to the increase in prices and the “gradual normalization of logistics and marketing costs”.

The company, however, posted a weaker third quarter in sales, which were down 2.1% compared to the same period in 2024. Safilo posted a turnover of 220.8 million in this period, while last year it was €225.4 million, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. In line with the first nine months as a whole, its ebitda also rose by 29.4% to €21.1 million.

By markets, while Europe and Asia Pacific performed well, North America and the rest of the world were down. Europe posted a 6.7% increase in turnover in the third quarter, to €90.9 million, and a 3% increase in the first nine months of the year, to €334 million. In the same vein, Asia Pacific posted sales of €13.8 million, 1.9% more than in the first quarter of 2024. In the first nine months of 2025, it advanced by 9.9% to reach sales of €44 million.

In the first nine months of the year, Europe overtook North America in terms of sales

In North America, meanwhile, Safilo’s sales declined. In the third quarter, sales fell by 6.6%, from €103.7 million in 2024, Safilo’s strongest market, to €96.9 million this year, just six million euros ahead of Europe. In the first nine months of the year, Europe is already ahead of the rest of the world, with North America selling 1.1% less, to €317.8 million. Safilo’s sales in the rest of the world fell by 16.7% in the third quarter, generating a turnover of €19.2 million, and by 12.7% in the first nine months of the year, to €62.7 million.

The company regrets that the results have been affected by “intense currency fluctuations”. In this regard, the CEO, Angelo Trocchia, stressed that the company’s geographical diversification “has made it possible to offset the stagnant trend in North America”, highlighting in particular the performance of Europe. “In emerging markets, continued growth in Asia-Pacific has helped to mitigate the weakness in the rest of the world,“ he said.

In North America, Safilo says that, while Smith posted a good performance, the eyewear segment’s evolution was “moderate”. The third quarter was a difficult one for Blenders’ e-commerce, with the company continuing to implement “mitigation measures” to counteract the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, with “price adjustments and a continued shift to sourcing outside of China.“

In this three-month period, Safilo has managed to decrease its net debt to €30.4 million, compared to the €42.4 million recorded at the end of June 2025 and from €82.7 million noted at the end of December last year.

Over the past year, Safilo has renewed its global eyewear licensing agreement with Under Armour, as well as with Dsquared2, Special Olympics, Kering Eyewear and Carolina Herrera. In the summer, it announced a ten-year global licensing agreement with Victoria Beckham for eyewear collections and, in June, it announced the sale of its Lenti subsidiary.