Rabat starts 2023 with a portfolio full of projects and the satisfaction of having managed to increase its sales by 25% in the last year. The family jewelry firm is experiencing a moment of optimism and is preparing to grow with new boutiques once it has recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic income levels and seen its profitability increase despite having raised investments and staff. The 2022 fiscal year closed with a turnover of 132 million euros, compared to 106 million in 2021, a year in which red numbers were left behind and sales climbed 45%.
"The goal for 2023 is to maintain this double-digit growth", explained this Tuesday the CEO of Rabat, Jordi Rabat, who admitted that they may not be able to grow 25% again as a result of the current economic context, so the challenge is to achieve, at least, an increase of more than 10%. To do this, new projects will be key, such as the upcoming opening of another establishment on Paseo de Gràcia in Barcelona, which will become the group's third boutique on the emblematic Barcelona shopping street. During the second quarter, Rabat will inaugurate a monobrand store for a watchmaking firm in the premises that until a few months ago housed Vinoteca Torres, at number 78 of the promenade, between Valencia and Mallorca.
The boutique will feature one of these three prestigious brands: Hublot, Breitling or Vacheron Constantin, with whom Rabat already signed agreements in 2022 to open three franchised boutiques in Madrid. "We still cannot reveal which of the three we will implement in Barcelona; in a few months we will announce it," explained Rabat, after pointing out that the firm "has forged a relationship of mutual trust" with these three important luxury firms. Specifically, last year, the group opened a Hublot store and another for the Breitling brand at number 30 Serrano Street in Madrid and another for Vacheron Constantin at number 68 of the same street, where Rabat's flagship is also located, on the corner with Jorge Juan.
The new watch shop on Paseo de Gràcia will be located between the exclusive Gucci and Chopard stores, in a premises that until the end of last year was occupied by The Wine House, the name adopted by Vinoteca Torres after reopening in July 2021 following the obligatory pandemic hiatus. The Torres family thus definitively abandons its gastronomic adventure in Barcelona to focus on El Celleret, the restaurant they launched in their wine tourism complex in Pacs del Penedès.
In parallel to this opening in Barcelona, Rabat plans to open another single-brand store in Valencia this year, which will join the three in Madrid and the one it owns with Rolex in Ibiza. Thus, the goal is to close 2023 with twelve establishments: six Rabat stores (located in Barcelona (2), Madrid, Ibiza, Valencia and Tarragona) and six single-brand watch boutiques in Madrid (3), Ibiza, Barcelona and Valencia.
In addition, the group led by Jordi Rabat plans to expand its main store in the Catalan capital by 200 square meters, located in the emblematic Casa Codina, next to La Pedrera. This is a six-story modernist building owned by the Gallardo family ---owners of Almirall--- and where Rabat also installed its main workshop and the company's corporate offices in 2015. This expansion will take place in an annexed premises located inside the block's courtyard and will be accompanied by a reorganization of the store's different spaces, already considered the largest jewelry store in Spain. "The commercial space will not really grow, but we are going to relocate the presence and visibility of some brands and the lounge areas for better customer service," says the businessman.
Rabat will also expand its boutique on the central Colón street in Valencia from 200 m² to 700 m², where it has rented a premises previously occupied by BBVA. All these expansion projects and new openings will involve an investment of 15 million euros.
After obtaining revenues of 132 million in 2022, up 25%, Grupo Flash Rabat, the name of its holding company, closed the year with an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of 12 million, a figure representing a 50% growth. "We have improved EBITDA by 50% despite having doubled our marketing investment and incorporated 32 more people into our team," said Jordi Rabat in a meeting with the press. The company now employs 216 people.
The executive, who succeeded his father and group founder, Esteban Rabat, in 2016, highlights that in 2022, the bond with local clients was strengthened, generating 72% of its sales, compared to 43% of the weight that national clients had in 2019. Another 13% are clients from European countries and 15% from the rest of the world. "We are very satisfied to have been able to recover and emphasize the bond with local clients thanks to our commitment to striving to do better and to grow day by day in service. Local sales have grown 93% compared to 2019," points out the CEO. Rabat currently does not sell online, and its business is very evenly split between the sale of watches and jewelry pieces to men and women.
The sale of watches from major international brands has grown by 20% in the last year and generates 75% of revenues. The other 25% corresponds to the commercialization of jewelry, with a 32% advance in Rabat brand jewelry, designed by the firm's creatives and whose production is carried out by various workshops located in Spain and Italy.
Rabat was founded by Esteban Rabat in 1977 in Badalona. In its beginnings, the store designed nautical jewelry and grew thanks to its specialization in corporate gifts, until its leap to Barcelona in 2004. Subsequently, the brand expanded to Valencia (2007), Madrid (2010), Tarragona (2016), and Ibiza (2017).