Sales in the womenswear segment rose by 29% in 2007 to EUR 209 million (2006: EUR 162 million). Adjusted for negative currency effects, sales actually increased by 32%. In its second year on the market, BOSS Orange womenswear was able to improve on its already strong growth trend of the previous year. Thus sales in this fashion line jumped by 81%. Sales of the BOSS Black Womenswear line also developed very well. Since the womenswear segment experienced a higher increase in sales in percentage terms than the menswear segment, the womenswear segment as a share of total sales of the HUGO BOSS Group grew from 11% to 13%. All of the important sales markets showed double-digit improvements. Europe stood out with an improvement of more than 30%, which was driven by very dynamic growth in Central and Eastern Europe with an increase of more than 70% as well as Great Britain and the Benelux countries, each with a sales increase of some 50%. Despite the difficult economic situation in Japan, Asia was able to turn in overall growth of 14% to fulfill expectations, as did the Americas with growth of 19%.

The gross margin in the womenswear segment continued to improve in the year under review, climbing by 1.7 percentage points to 60.2% (2006: 58.5%). An increased share in sales via directly operated stores as well as sales at higher price points contributed to this trend. In response to the significant increase in business volume of the BOSS womenswear collections, operating income and expenses rose by 23% in fiscal 2007, to EUR 103 million (2006: EUR 84 million). The operating result (EBIT) for the womenswear segment increased significantly again in fiscal 2007 as a result of improved economies of scale due to the higher number of items sold and due to the further optimization of business processes, supported by the Columbus project, thus improving by 99%, or EUR 11 million, to EUR 23 million (2006: EUR 11 million). As a consequence, the EBIT ratio improved by 3.8 percentage points to 10.8% as of the end of fiscal 2007 (2006: 7.0%). Net income in the womenswear segment rose significantly by 79%, to EUR 14 million (2006: EUR 8 million).