Sales at Italian luxury brand Tod’s dropped almost 30 per cent in the first quarter of the year as the pandemic forced many of its stores to shut down. Chairman and Chief Executive Diego Della Valle said the brand’s sales were very strong in all regions at the beginning of the year but the group remained very prudent for the rest of the year, controlling costs and limiting inventories.

The brand’s first quarter sales fell by 29.4 per cent to €152.8 million ($165.60 million) at current exchange rates year-on-year, compared with an analyst estimate of around €162 million. Though Tod’s revenue fell slightly in 2019, marking a fourth straight annual decline, it picked up in the last quarter of the year, in a sign that the strategy to re-launch the group’s brands was starting to bear fruit.

The coronavirus emergency has, however, complicated efforts by the management to push sales.