At the beginning of this year we announced that 2008 was a good year for Rolls-Royce. A month later Ferrari tells the same story. Ferrari’s Return On Sales figures raised last year with 17.6% which is 1.7% more than in 2007. Another growth, to be exact 28%, can be found in the licensing, retail and e-commerce activities that the guys from Maranello run.
More figures tell us that Ferrari ended the 2008 financial year with revenues of 1,921 million euro, an increase of 15.2% on the 1,668 million euro recorded in 2007. This rise comes mainly as a result of sales of the 430 Scuderia and the excellent performance of both the 612 Scaglietti and 599 GTB Fiorano which benefited from the launch of the One to One Personalisation Programme. The Ferrari California, however, made no contribution to the 2008 figures as the first examples are only being delivered to their owners in the next few days. If you want to read the full press-release, just scroll down.
Press Release:
Maranello 10th February 2009 – The Ferrari S.p.A Board of Directors met today under the chairmanship of Luca di Montezemolo to examine the Company’s end-of-year figures for 2008.
Once again in 2008 Ferrari delivered results that beat all previous Company records. The strong Return on Sales (ROS) growth seen in recent years continued, reaching 17.6% compared to 15.9% in 2007. This was an outstanding result in the car sector in general and is especially impressive given the very tough economic backdrop against which it was achieved, particularly in the second half of the year.
This important result comes courtesy of Ferrari’s diverse range of products and strict cost-cutting measures. That said, investments in research and development increased, reaching 18% of revenues in 2008. Improvements and efficiencies also helped compensate for unfavourable dollar and sterling exchange rates.
In addition to the above-mentioned structural improvements, Ferrari also launched a range of major commercial initiatives in 2008, including the new One to One Personalisation Programme for its 12-cylinder models and a new client assistance programme. Ferrari also enjoyed strong growth in the Brand related activities (licensing, retail and e-commerce) with +28% overall, the e-commerce segment performing particularly well, as revenues there boomed by over 65%.
Commenting on the figures, Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo declared: “Ending 2008 with results unprecedented in the entire history of the Company is the best endorsement we could have of our strategy of exclusivity, innovation and focus on people. These results beautifully cap a truly exceptional year that saw us once again at the top in Formula 1, winning our 16th Constructors’ title, our eighth in the last 10 years.
