Hugo Boss seeks sales boost from speed, online, Asia

BERLIN (Reuters) - German fashion house Hugo Boss set new targets to accelerate sales growth and lift profitability as it seeks to react faster to trends, expand in Asia and quadruple the size of its own online business by 2022.

Known for its smart men's suits, Hugo Boss has been introducing more casual and sportswear styles to appeal to a younger audience and investing heavily in its online offer.

Ahead of an investor day on Thursday it said it sees big growth potential for its Hugo brand, focused on the younger market, and for the group in Asia, which should account for about 20 percent of sales by 2022 from around 15 percent now.

It wants to offer a more personalised product range and shopping experience, and speed up logistics, product design and development to be able to react faster to new fashions.

Hugo Boss shares, which dipped last week when it reported disappointing quarterly figures, rose 2.9 percent in early Frankfurt trade.

Hugo Boss said last week it expects a significant improvement in sales and earnings in the fourth quarter after higher markdowns to shift unsold stock in an unseasonally long summer dented profits in the last three months.

It set a target on Thursday to grow annual sales by between 5 percent and 7 percent, compared with a 2018 target for up to around 5 percent.

It wants its operating profit margin to reach 15 percent by 2022, a rise of almost 3 percentage points from 2018.

To help boost profitability, it wants to increase retail sales productivity by an average of 4 percent a year, by speeding up renovation of its stores, improving its product range and better integrating stores with its online operation.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Maria Sheahan)