Hugo Boss keeps full year targets as profit drops

German fashion house Hugo Boss said Tuesday earnings were down in the third quarter, but it was nevertheless sticking to its full-year targets. "We're confident that we can achieve our full-year targets despite the difficult eocnomic environment," said chief executive Claus-Dietrich Lahrs. "The change in our collection cycle has led to a sales shift in our wholesale business from the third into the fourth quarter. This had an adverse impact on our traditionally strong earnings in the third quarter," Lahrs said . "We shall, however, return to double-digit growth in sales and earnings in the fourth quarter with our winter business." Hugo Boss expects a currency-adjusted gain in sales of 10 percent for 2012 and underlying profit of between 10 and 12 percent. In the period from July to September, net profit fell by 12 percent to 103.6 million euros ($134.5 million) and underlying profit was down 7.0 percent at 165.4 million euros, while sales advanced by 5.0 percent to 646.3 million euros.