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Simon Porte Jacquemus to Unveil Men’s Line

The designer, who had been teasing a #newjob on social media, said he started the project after falling in love.

WAITING FOR THE MAN: The guessing game is over: Simon Porte Jacquemus revealed at his fall show in Paris on Monday that the new professional challenge he has been teasing for weeks on social media with the hashtag #newjob is the launch of his own men’s wear line.

The designer announced the news by taking his bow in a sweatshirt emblazoned with the words “New Job L’Homme Jacquemus” at his women’s ready-to-wear show, held at the Petit Palais in front of guests including Christian Lacroix, Casey Spooner and Inès de la Fressange.

He won’t present his first creations until Paris men’s fashion week in June, and it hasn’t yet been finalized if he will stage a show or a presentation for the men’s line.

“I didn’t do men’s until now because I didn’t feel the need to do men’s and I couldn’t imagine it,” the 28-year-old explained. “I fell in love and I started to imagine that the Jacquemus man exists. I did Jacquemus women’s for my mother, and while I’m not saying that the men’s collection will be all about my boyfriends, it will still always be a love story.”

The designer has used social media as a central part of his communications strategy since he launched his brand in 2009 after dropping out of fashion school, prompted by his mother’s untimely death (Jacquemus is her maiden name.)

He rapidly gained the support of industry figures like Rei Kawakubo and took home the Special Jury Prize in the annual awards held by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Since then, he has won a reputation as one of the most talented young designers on the Paris scene, whose name is regularly put forward in the ongoing game of musical chairs at major houses.

His designs have become a favorite of celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Selena Gomez and Beyoncé, who wore a yellow skirt from the spring collection to take her daughter Blue Ivy Carter to the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles last weekend.

Jacquemus predicted that the addition of a men’s line would impact the mood of the brand. “This is going to change Jacquemus a little in the sense that it’s much more forward-looking, because there is a lot of melancholy in the women’s collections, for obvious reasons,” he said.

Data from Germany and Spain presented an encouraging picture of the outlook for inflation in the eurozone on Tuesday morning, with unexpectedly strong price growth in Spain and evidence of firm core inflation in the currency area’s largest economy.

Average prices in Spain rose 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to February, well ahead of the 0.9 per cent economists had predicted. Spain’s National Institute of Statistics attributed the rise to a sharp rise in electricity prices.

A wider uptick in inflation would be encouraging news for the European Central Bank, which is wary of a strong euro derailing its progress in bringing about a sustained steady rise in prices.

Regional data from the German state of Saxony also showed a 1.2 per cent in year on year inflation. That actually represents a decline compared to the previous month, but it was driven mainly by volatile food and energy prices, with core inflation ticking up thanks to more expensive package holidays and household appliances.

Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics said “we can’t be sure that the Saxony data mirror the national numbers perfectly, but the details suggest that underlying core inflation pressures remain firm, despite the risk of another headline dip in February”.

Nationwide data from Germany are due out later today, with the year on year rate expected to edge down from 1.4 per cent to 1.3 per cent.

A deal with Chanel, Richemont or Prada would change the industry's structure.

PARIS, France — The luxury goods industry is ripe for further consolidation. LVMH has surmounted most of its internal issues — DKNY has been sold, DFS is out of its loss-making Hong Kong airport concessions, even the long-troubled Marc Jacobs seems on its way out of the woods — and is ready to move, probably during the next slowdown in the sector. With Puma out of the way, Kering is pushing forward with its soft luxury businesses and is likely to move sooner rather than later. Richemont, too, seems to have regained its appetite for acquisitions under its new leadership. See its €2.7 billion bid for full control of Yoox Net-a-Porter. So, what’s likely to happen?

For sure, Richemont could decide to reinforce, rather than abandon, its weak beachhead in soft luxury. But it seems unlikely that the Swiss conglomerate will do more than add-on deals to pad out its brand portfolio. The company may have size on its side, but it also has a controlling family whose voting rights would be diluted by a high-profile merger. The group could also be on the receiving end of a bid or a merger by/with one of the two French giants, LVMH or Kering.

Moving south, Italy’s soft luxury players missed the chance to be industry consolidators decades ago. Today, they are rapidly becoming irrelevant as anything more than space-fillers for the big groups. Even Tod’s or Salvatore Ferragamo would be little more than a rounding error in terms of the industry’s structure. The sole exception is Prada, which could appeal to LVMH or Kering to further extend their lead in leather goods.

Across the Atlantic, there is no real substance to the notion of an “American LVMH.” None of the American brands — not Coach, not Michael Kors — really fit the bill as an anchor around which to build a luxury giant. Not only do they lack the strong cash profile necessary to finance such a sweeping strategy, but even combined, the market capitalisations of the four largest American soft luxury champions wouldn’t match a European challenger. Of course, some still see this as a good idea. Good luck to them. Simple mergers can be complicated enough; now imagine the task of bringing a collection of brands together under one roof.

Back to France then. LVMH is clearly in pole position to lead industry consolidation through M&A and further extend its lead. Kering is the natural challenger. Not only does it harbour multi-category ambitions, it is pushing forward on its newly found successes with Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. Kering could certainly move forward with a high-profile merger. A tie-up with Richemont would be a master stroke. Equally striking would be an LVMH tie-up with Chanel. Given its footprint in cosmetics, Chanel would be even more desirable than Hermès and not as big as L’Oréal.

It’s not hard to come up with any number of scenarios involving the smaller fry and some of these could actually materialise. Richemont could even surprise us all and emerge a winner on Yoox Net-a-Porter. But realistically, when it comes to big deals, the choices are limited. One thing seems certain: any major moves are likely to be a French affair.

Drax, the power company, announced a 64 per cent jump in pre-tax earnings on Tuesday, boosted by a strong performance from its biomass business. 

The company reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of £229m for the year to the end of December 2017, up from £140m the year before. 

Profit before tax, however, was adversely affected by higher depreciation charges, as well as one-off costs associated with the acquisition of a business energy supplier, Opus Energy, and led to a loss of £183m. Earnings per share fell to a loss of 37.2p, down from 47.7p, due in part to unrealised losses on derivative contracts. 

The company will pay a final dividend of 12.3p a share. It also announced a £50m share buyback programme. 

Drax has spent the past few years converting half its six generating units to burn wood pellets instead of coal. It has also submitted a planning application to convert two of its coal-fired units to gas, as the UK works towards a deadline of 2025 to phase out coal-fired generation. 

Will Gardiner, who took over as chief executive from long-serving Dorothy Thompson last year and was previously Drax’s chief financial officer, said: “We continued to transform the business in 2017, delivering strong EBITDA performance, in line with expectations. This was delivered by all parts of the business making positive contributions for the first time.”

Stocks in Asia ran out of steam as they tried to build on the recent rally that sent U.S. shares to a four-week high with investors betting monetary policy tightening won’t be too severe to derail the bull run in equities.

Japan’s stocks rose to the highest in more than three weeks after the S&P 500 Index recovered most of the losses emanating from the slump that hit global stock markets at the start of the month. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks pulled back from the day’s highs as S&P 500 Index futures fell. Declines in large-cap companies led shares in China lower. US After Hours  NTRI -28%, VERI -13%, FIT -11%, PEGA +9%, PANW +5% following earnings/guidance.

Nikkei +1.07% Hang Seng -0.49% CSI -1.40% Shanghai -1.13% Shenzen -0.27%

Eur$ 1.2331 CNH 6.3018 CNY 6.3069 JPY 106.85 GBP 1.3973 CHF 0.9365 RUB 55.5731 WTI 63.92 +0.02%

S&P -0.23% EuroStoxx +0.09% FTSE +0.23% Dax +0.10% SMI +0.30%

Macro :

- Look to Europe for Stocks That Hold Up Against Bonds: Macro View

- Endesa, Suez, EON Are Utilities to Buy With Catalysts: JPMorgan

- Traders Unfazed by Italy Election, But Some Warn of Complacency

Keep an eye on :

- AC FP : Hotel Companies Fall as Big Earnings Week Kicks Off

- ACS SM : ACS Seeks Partner for Murcia Photo-voltaic Project: Economista

- AAPL US : Apple Is Said to Plan Giant High-End IPhone, Lower-Priced Model

- AIXA GY : Aixtron Sees Full Year Revenue EU230 Mln To EU260 Mln

- ALLN SW : Allreal Full Year Dividend Per Share CHF6.25

- ARBN SW : Arbonia Full Year Ebitda CHF120.3 Mln

- AUSS NO : Austevoll Seafood Fourth Quarter Revenue Misses Estimates

- BKIA SM : Bankia to Distribute More Than EU2.5B in Dividends Through 2020

- BAS GY : BASF Fourth Quarter Sales Meet Estimates

- BSLN SW : Basilea Full Year Cash And Cash Equivalents CHF310.7 Mln

- CRDA LN : Croda Full Year Adjusted Pretax Profit Meets Estimates

- DANSKE DC : Danske Used by Putin’s Family to Launder Funds, Berlingske Says

- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank’s DWS to Focus on Sales to Postbank Customers: SZ

- ECONB BB : Econocom Full Year Adjusted EPS Beats Estimates

- EDP PL : EDP Renovaveis Signs Contract to Sell Renewable Energy in U.S.

- ERICB SS : Ericsson Holder Cevian Capital Reports 10.1% Class B Stake

- FME GY : Fresenius May Seek Akorn Deal Exit if Probe Finds Problems: RBC

- FME GY : Fresenius Medical Fourth Quarter Revenue 1.3% Below Estimates

- FME GY : Akorn Plunges 30% After Fresenius Launched Investigation

- GFC FP : Gecina Holder Offering Likely to Price at €146.50 per Share

- HLT US : Starwood Capital Buys Hilton UK Portfolio From Park for GBP135m

- IBE SM : Iberdrola Plans Early Retirement for 3,500 Staff: Confidencial

- KWS GY : KWS Saat Narrows Full Year Ebit Margin Forecast

- LSG NO : Leroy Fourth Quarter Revenue Misses Estimates

- LIGHT NA : Philips Selling 11.6% Stake in Philips Lighting via Placing

- LUX IM : Luxottica FY EPS Beats; 2018 Sales Seen Rising 2-4% Constant FX

- MONC IM : Moncler Full Year Revenue EU1.19 Bln

- PHIA NA : Philips Sells 16.2m Philips Lighting Shares at EU32.10 Apiece

- PSPN SW : PSP Swiss Sees Full Year Adjusted Ebitda Above CHF235 Mln

- PST IM : Poste Italiane Sees Net Rising About 13%/Yr to EU1.2b in 2022

- SAF FP : Safran FY Adj. Recurring Op. Income Above Est.; Div. EU1.60/Shr

- SAP GY : SAP CEO Sees Company Stock Tripling Over Coming Years: HB

- SLA LN : S&P Places Standard Life Aberdeen on Watch Negative

- SLHN SW : Swiss Life Full Year Net Income CHF1.01 Bln

- STAN LN : Standard Chartered FY Adjusted Pretax Profit 4.1% Below Est.

- UN01 GY : Uniper Board of Mgmt Proposes Div of EUR0.74/Shr for 2017

- VAN BB : Van De Velde FY Adjusted Ebitda EU53.5 Mln Vs. EU61.9 Mln Y/Y

- VOLVB SS : Volvo Chairman Says Co., Geely Agree on Strategy: SVD