Is the Kering group preparing to acquire another Italian brand? Gucci's extraordinary success could influence the group's strategy in the coming months

The Kering group's second quarterly report for 2021 indicated a 159.5% growth in net profits – marking a complete recovery from the crisis into which the lockdown had thrown the luxury sector thanks to a recovery in retail in North America and asia. What is very interesting, however, is that, in the middle of the Kering portfolio, Gucci's profits jumped by 86%, beating the already optimistic predictions of analysts and bringing, by itself, an increase in revenue for the entire group of 11.2%. Gucci's extraordinary results are not only a positive sign for the group's investors, which took a few more months to recover from the 2020 crisis, but signaled a new role of absolute protagonism that Gucci has within Kering. Gucci in fact generated more than 80% of Kering's total operating revenue last year – effectively making the group dependent on its performance but also giving it enough financial power to launch into a new acquisition, especially at a commercially eventful historical juncture like this. 

Is Kering preparing for a new acquisition?

However, the Italian market is still rich in brands owned by the founding families, such as Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Missoni, Brunello Cucinelli and Dolce &Gabbana, which will now have to navigate between the new challenges posed by a market increasingly dominated by multi-brand conglomerates also facing the thorny issue of succession. All of these companies may want to look for a common platform that creates a more robust business and financial structure for each of the individual companies – and Kering itself could be an interested buyer, considering how, both according to Renzo Rosso and Remo Ruffini, the birth of a confederation of the great Italian brands still seems far away, even if there is the shared value of Made in Italy that has motivated, for example, both the union of Stone Island and Moncler and the co-participation of Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna in the acquisition of one of the most important cashmere factories in the country to protect the Italian production chain. 

Precisely in this sense, as an Italian company with an enormous financial capacity, Exor could represent a possible alternative for many brands and a possible acquisition of Armani could give a strong signal of encouragement in this sense, especially considering how Giorgio Armani himself has explicitly said that he does not want his company to end up in foreign hands.