Dear Shareholders,
Dear Readers,
2025 once again underscored how fast the world around us is transforming: new technologies, shifting consumer behavior, and elevated macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties continued to shape our industry. In this dynamic environment, staying agile while maintaining focus and clarity is essential. At HUGO BOSS, we reinforced the foundation of our long-term success – concentrating on what we can actively shape: further strengthening our brands, elevating our products, and deepening our global consumer engagement.
Throughout the year, we continued to create moments that truly inspired consumers and deepened emotional connections with our brands. Powerful BOSS and HUGO campaigns, the launch of the first two BOSS collections with global icon David Beckham, and the BOSS Fashion Show in Milan stood out as clear highlights. Together, they reinforced our global brand relevance and reflected our ambition to create truly desired brands and build lasting consumer connections. At the same time, we continued to drive efficiency across our business and remained disciplined in managing our cost base, ensuring that every investment is targeted and sustainable.
Shaping Brand Excellence
With CLAIM 5 TOUCHDOWN, it’s time to further elevate BOSS and HUGO, continue shaping what our brands stand for, and strengthen their positioning as truly desired global brands.
Learn more Learn moreThis balanced approach enabled us to deliver on our financial commitments in 2025. Despite the challenging environment, Group sales increased by 2% on a currency-adjusted basis to EUR 4.3 billion. Driven by our rigorous focus on operational excellence and cost efficiency, EBIT increased by 8% to EUR 391 million, with the EBIT margin improving by 80 basis points to 9.2%. In addition, we generated strong free cash flow before leases of EUR 499 million, underscoring the resilience and cash-generating strength of our business model.
We delivered on our 2025 targets and strengthened the long-term positioning of our brands.
Beyond our financial performance, 2025 was also a year in which we reassessed our strategic direction and successfully shaped HUGO BOSS for the next chapter. With the launch of CLAIM 5 TOUCHDOWN in December, we introduced a clear strategic framework through 2028, designed to strengthen brand equity and pave the way for sustainable, profitable growth and long-term shareholder value. This next chapter builds on the solid foundation laid during CLAIM 5 and allows us to refine our approach to prepare for the decisive steps ahead. It involves a deliberate refocus of our business to further strengthen our operational and financial base. Over the coming years, we will sharpen our priorities and shift our focus toward stronger profitability and free cash flow, establishing a solid foundation for future shareholder returns. To deliver on this ambition, execution under CLAIM 5 TOUCHDOWN will center on three fields of excellence – brand, distribution, and operations – ensuring that every part of our business consistently reinforces the strength and desirability of BOSS and HUGO.
2026 plays a crucial role in this journey and marks a true pivotal moment, serving as a year of targeted brand and channel realignment. This includes a more targeted distribution approach to enhance productivity and quality across our global footprint, as well as more focused and elevated product assortments across brands. While these deliberate actions will temporarily impact top-line development, we regard this phase as a necessary and value-creating step to further drive the quality of our sales and position HUGO BOSS for long-term success. At the same time, we remain sharply focused on profitability, executing with discipline to support a stronger earnings profile beyond 2026.
We are building the foundation for sustainable, profitable growth and long-term value creation.
I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued trust and support throughout our CLAIM 5 journey. Our commitment to long-term value creation and attractive shareholder returns remains firmly embedded in CLAIM 5 TOUCHDOWN. Supported by our robust free cash flow generation and a very solid balance sheet, we plan to buy back shares in an amount of up to EUR 200 million until the end of 2027, further strengthening the value creation delivered to our shareholders. At the same time, we remain fully committed to preserving the financial flexibility required to consistently execute our strategy, invest in future growth, and successfully navigate an ongoing volatile environment.
Our vision is clear: to be the leading premium, tech-driven, customer-centric fashion platform, shaping the future of our industry. Digitalization and artificial intelligence are central to this vision. We will therefore continue to systematically embed AI and digital technologies across our business, enabling smarter decisions, more intuitive customer experiences, and highly scalable operations. By combining technological excellence with the power of our brands, we are creating a platform designed to redefine premium fashion in a rapidly evolving world.
Ultimately, it is our people who shape the future of HUGO BOSS. The passion of our employees and their exceptional commitment turn our ambition into reality and give us confidence as we enter this decisive year together. I have absolute confidence in the strength of our brands, our strategy, and our global team. Together, we are unlocking the full potential of HUGO BOSS and taking our Company to the next level.
Sincerely yours,
Daniel Grieder
Chief Executive Officer