Last spring, the financial indicators were favourable and Barbara Bui returned to profit in its 2024 financial year. This marked an important milestone, given that in July 2024 the French brand had placed itself under the protection of the Paris Commercial Court (now the Economic Affairs Court) by filing for receivership. Founded in 1987 by the eponymous designer and its CEO, William Halimi, the company remains 65% owned by its founders and their families, with the free float accounting for 35% of the capital of the Euronext Paris-listed company.
Barbara Bui silhouette – Barbara Bui
In 2024, the company recorded growth but struggled to finance it owing to the absence of a banking partner, according to management.
“We had entered the Covid period with a healthy business, because we had made organisational efforts beforehand. As with many companies, the pandemic had a significant impact on our sales. Fortunately, the state‑guaranteed loan (PGE) was a very effective mechanism that enabled us to cope,” recalls William Halimi. “But the issue was that the scheme didn’t anticipate that the economic consequences would persist for more than two years. And repaying the loans over five years, when business was still sluggish, was very onerous. We should have been able to spread these repayments over the longer term.” The executive then found that, with the PGE and a textile sector deemed risky by banks, the company was unable to secure banking support.
“In our line of work, bank credit lines are essential to finance growth. But all too often, bankers lump all brands into the same ‘textile’ category. We are positioned in luxury, with distinctive creations and an international growth focus. It’s not the same risk profile as a mid-market brand with a heavy domestic retail network limited to France.”
After more than two years of financing growth, management resigned themselves to filing for receivership. “It was a difficult decision for us. This brand is our baby. In a way, it cast a shadow over the company and our work,” recalls the co-founder. “And in reality, it was a wonderful experience. Right from the start of the procedure, our case was very well received, with strong engagement from the court and the administrators. As a listed company, we’re used to setting a clear course and keeping our commitments. And I really got the feeling that they were all there to save Barbara Bui.”
For the CEO, receivership allowed the company to continue operating. The brand then worked by focusing on its fundamentals, reducing the number of SKUs, prioritising its directly managed operations, and seeking savings in order to move closer to break-even.
In 2024, sales rose by 3% to 12.4 million euros. Above all, it generated a net profit of 242,000 euros, while reducing its operating loss. Its gross margin improved significantly. A trend that continued in 2025. These advances enabled the company to emerge from receivership on a high note, with the court approving its continuation plan on January 9.
As part of this plan, the company restructured a declared debt of 10.3 million euros, of which 5.3 million euros were officially recognised after analysis of the declarations by the administrators. This restructuring strategy rests on three main levers: securing 600,000 euros in debt waivers agreed with partners; bullet repayment at maturity of 1.1 million euros in shareholder current accounts provided by the co-founders; and spreading the remaining balance of 3.2 million euros over a period of nine years.
Barbara Bui can rely on its three Paris boutiques, located on avenue Montaigne, rue de Grenelle, and rue des Saints-Pères, whose sales are rising steadily.
According to the company, which will publish its sales figures for 2025 in the first quarter of 2026 and its annual results at the end of April, last year saw double-digit growth in its direct sales channels, with a 14% increase in the Paris boutiques and a 65% increase on its e-commerce site.
The brand, which plays with revisited tailoring and references to rock and new wave, all with high-quality materials, is also distributed through around 100 multi-brand retailers worldwide, compared with 140 before the receivership was announced.
“Our entire team of around sixty people was fully involved during the receivership, and this resulted in superb performances in our boutiques,” explains William Halimi. “But receivership often paralyses retailers. Now that we’re out of the procedure, we’ll be able to win back some of our former partners, who will be reassured.”
The brand, which continues to self-finance its development, is preparing new propositions to appeal to export markets, which already account for a quarter of its business, in the coming seasons. And it is embracing a modest but profitable growth strategy to assert its uniqueness in the market.
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India expects talks on a long-sought trade deal with the European Union to conclude this month, Trade Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Thursday, in what would be New Delhi’s largest agreement as it seeks new markets amid US tariff pressures.
A mobile crane carries a container at Deendayal Port in Kandla, in the western state of Gujarat, India, April 5, 2025 – REUTERS/Amit Dave
The deal, under discussion for years, is seen as a chance for both sides to deepen economic ties and cut reliance on China and Russia. Bilateral trade between India and the EU totalled 120 billion euros ($140 billion) in 2024, making the bloc India’s biggest trading partner. Agrawal said the two sides were “very close” to finalising the pact and were exploring whether it could be wrapped up before leaders meet in New Delhi this month.
He said talks on a US trade pact were continuing and a deal would be reached when both sides were ready. Negotiations collapsed last year after a breakdown in communication between the two governments.
The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will visit India on January 25–27 and co-chair an India–EU summit on January 27, India’s foreign ministry said. If concluded, the deal would open India’s vast and heavily protected consumer market of more than 1.4 billion people to European goods and could reshape global trade flows as protectionism rises and a US-India pact remains stalled.
Both sides have been pushing to close a broad agreement after von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to fast-track negotiations in an effort to close a deal in 2025. Talks, relaunched in 2022, gained momentum after US President Donald Trump imposed tariff hikes on trading partners including India. Brussels has recently signed deals with Mexico and Indonesia and stepped up talks with India, while New Delhi has reached agreements with Britain, Oman and New Zealand.
Some sensitive agricultural items have been excluded from negotiations, an Indian trade ministry official said. India will not open its agriculture or dairy sectors in any trade pact, officials have said, citing the need to protect millions of subsistence farmers.
The EU is pushing for steep tariff cuts on cars, medical devices, wine, spirits, and meat, along with stronger intellectual property rules. India is seeking duty-free access for labour-intensive goods and quicker recognition of its autos and electronics sectors.
Beyond goods, the agreement is expected to expand services trade, investment and cooperation in digital trade, intellectual property, and green technologies, as well as spur European investment in Indian manufacturing, renewable energy ,and infrastructure. Challenges remain over regulatory alignment and the protection of sensitive sectors. The EU’s carbon border levy, which requires importers to account for emissions in steel, cement and other carbon‑intensive products, has started to hit some Indian exports and is a key concern for New Delhi, exporters said.
Cristina Álvarez, who, as of this Thursday, assumes the chair of El Corte Inglés and the Ramón Areces Foundation, has underlined her intention to contribute to the development of the group’s businesses and to its investment programme, which in the 2026-2027 financial year will total €650 million.
Cristina Álvarez, new chair of El Corte Inglés – El Corte Inglés
In a statement, Álvarez explained that this investment will focus on continuing store refurbishments, strengthening the group’s technology and logistics capabilities, and expanding its businesses.
Cristina Álvarez, who replaces her sister Marta, takes the helm of the company and the foundation after both appointments were unanimously approved by all members of the El Corte Inglés board of directors and the board of trustees of the Ramón Areces Foundation.
Cristina Álvarez continues to chair the Appointments and Remuneration Committee. In addition, from Thursday she will also chair the Monitoring Committee and will therefore oversee the strategic plan approved by the board of directors and its implementation by managing directors Santiago Bau and Rafael Díaz Yeregui.
The chairwoman has expressed her “sincere commitment and dedication” to the group, to which she has devoted her professional life for more than 30 years, and has emphasised her “pride in being part of El Corte Inglés.”
In this way, Marta Álvarez steps aside in favour of her sister as chair after six years in the role, a “personal and voluntary decision,” although she will remain a member of the board of directors and of the Monitoring Committee, focusing on the strategic direction of own-brand lines in fashion and home.
Cristina Álvarez, who joined the company in 1992, expressed her thanks, when the handover was announced, for the “magnificent work” carried out by her sister Marta over these years and said she would perform her duties with “humility, always safeguarding the interests of the shareholders, employees and customers of this great company.”
Marta Álvarez’s decision to hand over the chair to her sister came almost a month after the board of directors approved, with immediate effect, the reshuffle of the company’s top management, following the departure of its chief executive officer, Gastón Bottazzini, who took up the post just over a year ago.
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A lot of brands have had a hard time coming back from Covid, but not Antik Batik, the bohemian chic marque that returned to Pitti with real flourish this season.
Antik Batik’s menswear selection for Pitti Uomo – Antik Batik
A blend of European cool and Indian handicraft, Antik Batik could boast of a busy stand inside the Superstyling section of the three-day salon Pitti Uomo, edition 109, held in the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy.
Stand out ideas included a Jimmy Hendrix worthy hippie chic embroidered waistcoat, finished with a sweatshirt interior and sheepskin collar; or a superb jacquard shirt jacket made from the matelassé cotton used for winter blankets in northern India. Made in a great, punchy gold, mauve, and bronze pattern developed by Antik Batik’s founder and creative director Gabriella Cortese.
Plus, she cut a great new range of jackets in dense cotton canvas with deep patch pockets, ending at the waist and finished with high sheepskin collars. Cortese also showed posh hippie shirts with ribbed breastplates in light yet densely woven washed Indian cotton, their labels hand done in India.
In knits, there were lots of outstanding black, deep pile kimono/cardigans, trimmed and piped with green hand embroidery, all made in the sub-continent. Seen alongside several wonderful chunkier ribbed sweaters, produced in Scotland by a great mill named McGeorge.
“It’s like what we used to wear going to school in Italy,” smiled the Turin-born Cortese. For other chilly Alpine mornings, she harnessed great traditional methods, developing natty jacquard tank tops and slim long scarves created in vicuna in Peru.
For party time, Antik Batik also had plenty of options, notably cool oversized embroidered shirts featuring an ecru and black floral design. Though her most sensational idea were inside out jeans finished in beautiful floral patterns, some made in an eye-catching patchwork. Ibiza, Deia– where Antik Batik have a pop-up and a full store– here we come.
“Pitti really is the best show anywhere for menswear. We had made menswear before but not in such a serious way, so it feels really right to be here. We’ve seen lots of great people,” explained the ever-blonde Cortese, who has still not lost the dancer’s figure she boasted when she was a young performer at Paris’ Crazy Horse back in the 1980s.
Internationally, Antik Batik sells in over 400 doors, testament to its loyal following of counterculture cool kids. Asked to define the brand’s DNA, Gabriella laughed and responded: “Chic bohemians, who enjoy reading Jack Kerouac,” referring to the Beat Generation poet whose novel One the Road inspired a generation of artists, musicians, and globetrotters.
Politics8 years ago