By Svetlana Kovalyova
VICENZA, Italy, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The global economic crisis will weed out weak players Italy's jewellery industry and prepare the ground for consolidation in the strongly fragmented sector, jewellers and industry officials said at a trade fair.
Italy is the world's leading jewellery exporter but the sector has been hit by increasing competitive pressure from China, India and Turkey in the past few years. The number of manufacturing companies dropped 12 percent to 11,649 between 2002 and 2008, according to industry data.
'We have an economic crisis on top of the structural one. We are losing small and weak companies... There will be a considerable fall (in the number of companies),' Domenico Girardi, general manager of the Vicenza fair, organisers of the international jewellery fair, told Reuters.
'I believe there will be a sector consolidation, the companies will unite,' Girardi told a news conference there.
Massimo Carraro, chief executive of Morellato & Sector which has grown into a leading Italian watch and jewellery maker from a watch strap maker thanks to a string of acquisitions, said the time for mergers and acquisitions was yet to come.
'You cannot take two small entities and make one strong one out of them ... We need to take a pause for now and wait until the dust settles,' Carraro, tipped by many insiders as one of possible consolidators in the sector, told Reuters.
Carraro confirmed his group's strategic goal to float on the stock market but would not be drawn on the timing of a listing. In the past he has indicated 2010-2012 as a likely time frame.
Only two Italian jewellers, Bulgari and Damiani , are listed.
SEEKING A STRONG PARTNER
Analysts have said outside investors, such as equity funds or fashion groups, would drive consolidation in the Italian jewellery sector. But jewellers say outsiders would not understand certain aspects of the business, such as slower returns than in fashion.
Debt-laden and loss-making Italian 'accessible luxury' goods maker Mariella Burani Fashion Group is now selling four Italian jewellers -- Rosato, Calgaro, Valente and Facco -- it bought a couple of years ago.
Monica Fin, chief executive of Calgaro which bought back control of the company from Mariella Burani earlier this year, said the nearly two-year tie-up taught her new business strategies but development projects she counted on had failed to materialise.
Fin said her small company, known for silky jewellery made from fine gold threads, would look again for an industrial partner to help it grow on international markets.
Calgaro has already received some offers, Fin said, but she wanted first to boost the business after the buyout which cost the company 'an enormous effort' as it came just in the middle of the economic crisis.
'We had a double crisis. We need to put things in order ... It is like after a divorce,' she told Reuters.
(Editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: JEWELLERY ITALY/CONSOLIDATION (svetlana.kovalyova@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 661 29450; Reuters Messaging: svetlana.kovalyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
VICENZA, Italy, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The global economic crisis will weed out weak players Italy's jewellery industry and prepare the ground for consolidation in the strongly fragmented sector, jewellers and industry officials said at a trade fair.
Italy is the world's leading jewellery exporter but the sector has been hit by increasing competitive pressure from China, India and Turkey in the past few years. The number of manufacturing companies dropped 12 percent to 11,649 between 2002 and 2008, according to industry data.
'We have an economic crisis on top of the structural one. We are losing small and weak companies... There will be a considerable fall (in the number of companies),' Domenico Girardi, general manager of the Vicenza fair, organisers of the international jewellery fair, told Reuters.
'I believe there will be a sector consolidation, the companies will unite,' Girardi told a news conference there.
Massimo Carraro, chief executive of Morellato & Sector which has grown into a leading Italian watch and jewellery maker from a watch strap maker thanks to a string of acquisitions, said the time for mergers and acquisitions was yet to come.
'You cannot take two small entities and make one strong one out of them ... We need to take a pause for now and wait until the dust settles,' Carraro, tipped by many insiders as one of possible consolidators in the sector, told Reuters.
Carraro confirmed his group's strategic goal to float on the stock market but would not be drawn on the timing of a listing. In the past he has indicated 2010-2012 as a likely time frame.
Only two Italian jewellers, Bulgari and Damiani , are listed.
SEEKING A STRONG PARTNER
Analysts have said outside investors, such as equity funds or fashion groups, would drive consolidation in the Italian jewellery sector. But jewellers say outsiders would not understand certain aspects of the business, such as slower returns than in fashion.
Debt-laden and loss-making Italian 'accessible luxury' goods maker Mariella Burani Fashion Group is now selling four Italian jewellers -- Rosato, Calgaro, Valente and Facco -- it bought a couple of years ago.
Monica Fin, chief executive of Calgaro which bought back control of the company from Mariella Burani earlier this year, said the nearly two-year tie-up taught her new business strategies but development projects she counted on had failed to materialise.
Fin said her small company, known for silky jewellery made from fine gold threads, would look again for an industrial partner to help it grow on international markets.
Calgaro has already received some offers, Fin said, but she wanted first to boost the business after the buyout which cost the company 'an enormous effort' as it came just in the middle of the economic crisis.
'We had a double crisis. We need to put things in order ... It is like after a divorce,' she told Reuters.
(Editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: JEWELLERY ITALY/CONSOLIDATION (svetlana.kovalyova@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 661 29450; Reuters Messaging: svetlana.kovalyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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