Family business roundup: Exor and Genting post profit falls, Pernod Ricard and Ferragamo earnings up

It has been a week of contrasting fortunes for Italian family businesses as Exor’s half-yearly profits plummeted while Ferragamo’s rose significantly. Meanwhile, France's Pernod Ricard reported an increase in full-year earnings and Malaysian investment group Genting Berhad posted lower quarterly profits.

Exor, the holding company of the Agnellis, the family behind carmaker Fiat, saw its net consolidated profit for the first six months of the year fall by more than half, down 55% to €214.6 million from €477.2 million a year ago. The company blamed the decrease on the "unusual income" generated in 2011 when the Fiat Group acquired a controlling stake in American carmaker Chrysler. 

Meanwhile, fellow Italian family business Ferragamo reported half-yearly revenues of €565.1 million, up 22.9% from €459.7 million during the same period in 2011.

The fashion house, run by the eponymous family, posted a 22.5% increase in net profit for the six months ending June 30 to €55.9 million, from €45.7 million a year ago.

In France, wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard reported a 10% rise in full-year net profit to €1.15 billion. Revenues were €8.2 billion, said the company on 30 August. The announcement follows the sudden death of chairman and family member Patrick Ricard on 17 August.

Across the globe, Malaysia’s Genting Berhad, controlled by the Lim family, posted a 12.5% fall in net profit for the second quarter of 2012, down to 1.05 billion Malaysian ringgit (€268 million) from 1.2 billion Malaysian ringgit during the same period last year. The conglomerate reported a slight increase in quarterly revenues, to 4.41 billion Malaysian ringgit in the three months to June 30, from 4.46 billion Malaysian ringgit last year.