Dear Shareholders,
Dear Readers,

2023 was another year of remarkable success for HUGO BOSS. The second full year of rigorous execution of our “CLAIM 5” growth strategy brought us tremendous achievements across all business areas and strongly supported the momentum of our two brands BOSS and HUGO throughout the year. This enabled us to significantly outperform the global premium apparel market, gain further market share, and achieve record sales of EUR 4.2 billion in fiscal year 2023. Despite further investments in our business, we also recorded a strong operating profit of EUR 410 million. Consequently, we successfully achieved our full-year sales and earnings targets, which we had raised twice during the course of the year.

2023 also marked another major milestone along our growth journey. Thanks to the successful execution of “CLAIM 5,” we exceeded our initial 2025 revenue target of EUR 4 billion two years ahead of plan. Back in June, we therefore provided an update on “CLAIM 5” and increased our mid-term financial ambition. We strongly believe in the great potential of BOSS and HUGO, and now aim to generate revenues of EUR 5 billion and an EBIT margin of at least 12%. This will bring us closer to becoming one of the top 100 global brands.

Fueled by our strong brand momentum, we successfully continued our growth trajectory in 2023.

With “CLAIM 5,” we put consumers at the center of everything we do. Our efforts to turn them into true fans of our brands are clearly paying off: Following our successful branding refresh, we continued to drive the relevance of BOSS and HUGO with spectacular campaigns and unique fashion events. Our latest Spring/Summer 2024 campaigns further build on this success, featuring supermodels Gisele Bündchen and Adwoa Aboah, along with popular BOSS ambassadors Lee Minho and Matteo Berrettini. And with our numerous digital brand initiatives, we are now clearly setting the tone on social media.

HELLO Brands

To become one of the top 100 global brands, we pour all our passion into driving brand relevance for BOSS and HUGO with innovative marketing and product initiatives.

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Nowhere do our brands come to life more than through our products. Today, we are fully living up to our 24/7 lifestyle promise. In this context, we continue to leverage our BOSS brand lines for Menswear, including the newly established, exclusive Camel line. Building on this, we also introduced BOSS Orange and BOSS Camel to Womenswear in 2023. Last but certainly not least, we expanded our offering at HUGO with the successful launch of HUGO Blue, placing a strong focus on denimwear. To further drive newness, we also co-created inspiring capsules with important partners such as Porsche, the American football league NFL, iconic supermodel Naomi Campbell, and TikTok superstar Bella Poarch.

Unleashing the full potential of digitalization is, and remains the driving force to realize our vision of becoming the leading premium tech-driven fashion platform worldwide. In 2023, we further advanced our claim “Lead in Digital,” by digitalizing key business activities and maintaining a strong focus on leveraging the power of data. Our HUGO BOSS Digital Campus, physically inaugurated last summer, is at the heart of our digital journey. It enables significant progress in better understanding consumers' needs, strengthening customer loyalty, and providing customized content. Our Digital Campus therefore also plays a key role in further enhancing the digital experience across all touchpoints.

HELLO Customers

We remain steadfast in our commitment to 'Drive Omnichannel,' ensuring that every customer interaction with our two brands, BOSS and HUGO, is nothing short of exceptional.

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Talking of touchpoints: In 2023, we took customer experience to the next level and introduced new and innovative formats. We are not only modernizing and further optimizing our store network, but also offering exciting pop-ups and hospitality experiences. As part of the reopening of our BOSS store in Dubai Mall, for example, we celebrated an impressive takeover of the iconic AURA Skypool. And at our refreshed BOSS store on London’s Regent Street, we opened our first in-store BOSS Bar. Beyond that, we rolled out our latest store concepts, turning our physical touchpoints into places of emotion and digital experiences. Around 200 of our stores are already shining in new splendor, such as our new BOSS stores in Milan, Guangzhou, and idyllic Ascona. And finally, we also continued to make progress in strengthening our position in physical wholesale, gaining further visibility and market shares in key European and U.S. department stores.

Also from an operational perspective, 2023 was an exceptional year. As part of our strategic claim “Organize for Growth,” we have made first important progress in implementing our supply chain’s Digital TWIN and also significantly stepped up investments into our global logistics capacities. A crucial aspect in this context is the expansion of one of our key logistics centers in Germany, with a strong focus on digitalization and automation. At the same time, we are also expanding and enhancing our beautiful headquarters. With a new, modern building and the upgrade of our hospitality services, we are creating a best-in-class working experience for our more than 3,000 employees at the Metzingen site, as our people and teams are essential for the ongoing success of HUGO BOSS.

“CLAIM 5” also contains a strong commitment to sustainability. As part of our new sustainability strategy, “For a bold and better future,” we want to address the biggest challenges within our industry: among others, we are intensifying our efforts by pushing zero emissions, fighting microplastics, and increasing circularity. We are fully convinced that sustainability and innovation work hand in hand, and I am excited that BOSS successfully launched its inaugural products made from AeoniQ in 2023, the world’s first circular yarn. Examples like this illustrate our commitment to driving change in the fashion industry and show how we want to contribute to creating a planet free of waste and pollution. In this context, we are particularly proud that our numerous sustainability initiatives continue to be recognized externally. In 2023, we were included for the seventh consecutive year in the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, with the second-best score in our industry.

We will continue to rigorously execute “CLAIM 5” with all our power and all our passion.

Dear readers, 2023 was without doubt an extremely successful year for HUGO BOSS. The strong business performance and increased relevance of our brands proves that “CLAIM 5” is the right strategy for HUGO BOSS, implemented at the right time. Building on our regained brand momentum, we are fully committed to making further progress along our “CLAIM 5” journey, as we continue to see tremendous growth opportunities for the years to come. The further successful execution remains our top priority, and we are dedicated to engaging with consumers through exciting marketing initiatives, an exceptional product range, and best-in-class experiences. And of course, we also want you, dear shareholders, to benefit from our success with a strong 25% share price increase in 2023 and a proposed dividend of EUR 1.35 per share.

While we are convinced of the future growth opportunities of HUGO BOSS, we must not forget the macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that our industry continues to face: elevated levels of inflation and interest rates, weakening global consumer sentiment, and mounting geopolitical tensions, to just name a few. Against this backdrop, we remain particularly vigilant while, at the same time, continuing to push ahead with our strategy execution. We are confident that our brands have all it takes to continue outperforming our industry and gaining further market shares in 2024. Overall, we expect Group sales to increase within a range of 3% to 6%, and operating profit to grow between 5% and 15% to a level of around EUR 430 million to EUR 475 million.

Let me conclude on a personal note: What truly amazes me is the outstanding motivation of our global HUGO BOSS team. Our nearly 19,000 employees make HUGO BOSS stronger, more sustainable, and more resilient. I therefore want to thank each and every employee for the exceptional commitment and dedication to our Company. Together as one global team, we will continue with all our energy and passion to become a top 100 global brand. Thanks to our excellent team and a strong strategy in place, I am confident that we will continue to lead HUGO BOSS into a highly successful future.

Sincerely yours,