Hugo Boss Raises Forecast After Solid Third Quarter

FRANKFURT, Germany — German fashion house Hugo Boss hiked its sales guidance for 2017 on Thursday, citing growth in Europe and Asia as it reported quarterly financial results that broadly met expectations.

The company, known for its smart men's suits, now expects its group sales to grow by a low single-digit percentage rate on a currency-adjusted basis, having previously guided for flat sales.

"We are making good progress in repositioning Boss and Hugo," chief executive Mark Langer said in a statement.

After a string of profit warnings, Hugo Boss has been slashing prices in China to bring them closer to European and US levels, making efforts to appeal to younger customers, investing in its website and closing loss-making stores.

In the third quarter, currency-adjusted sales edged up by 3 percent to €710.7 million ($828.2 million), in line with the analyst consensus in a Reuters poll, bolstered by gains in Europe, China and Japan.

Hugo Boss said it now saw its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items remaining stable from 2016's 493, compared with a previous forecast for anything between a 3 percent decline and a 3 percent rise.

By Maria Sheahan; editor: Christoph Steitz.