On September 3, Ermenegildo Zegna Group (NYSE:ZGN) reported first-half revenues of €987.3 million, up 6.4% year over year and 9.3% on an organic basis. Direct-to-consumer sales did nearly all the work, climbing 15.8% organically and now making up 86% of branded revenue. But headline profit told a rougher story, sliding to €28.4 million from €47.9 million a year earlier. The gap between a business growing almost everywhere that matters and a bottom line moving the other direction is what investors now have to untangle.
Direct Sales Keep Carrying The Business
The clearest strength in the first half of 2026 is how much of Zegna’s growth is coming from channels it controls directly. Direct-to-consumer revenue grew 12.1% as reported and 15.8% organically, while the Group deliberately shrank its wholesale business by 14.6% as it keeps trimming third-party accounts. The Zegna segment, which houses the flagship ZEGNA brand along with Textile, generated €724.3 million in revenue, up 9.7% year over year, with the ZEGNA brand itself growing 13.9% organically to €634.6 million. That segment’s Adjusted EBIT Margin rose 50 basis points to 14.8%, driven by higher sales per square meter and better sell-through in its own stores.
Group-wide Adjusted EBIT rose to €74.5 million from €68.7 million, pushing the margin to 7.5%. The balance sheet moved in the right direction too, with the net cash surplus climbing to €59.6 million at June 30 from €52.1 million at December 31, 2025. Free cash flow flipped to a positive €19.2 million, compared with a negative €23.1 million a year earlier, helped by stronger operating cash flow and tighter working capital management. Even Tom Ford Fashion, still unprofitable, cut its Adjusted EBIT loss to €12.1 million from €19.4 million, a sign the newer brand is moving toward breakeven rather than away from it.
Where The Numbers Get Less Flattering
The drop in profit isn’t just optics. H1 2025’s €47.9 million figure included a €27.8 million non-cash gain from remeasuring non-controlling interest put option liabilities, a boost that didn’t repeat this year. On top of that, the effective tax rate jumped to 38.8% from 29.6%, and the combined swing in financial expenses and foreign exchange moved to a negative €22.7 million from a positive €6.0 million. Together, those items explain most of the gap between a profit margin of 2.9% this year and 5.2% last year, even as operating profit itself improved to €68.5 million from €61.3 million.
Thom Browne is the segment causing the most concern. Revenue there fell 4.9% year over year to €123.1 million, and Adjusted EBIT swung to a loss of €8.3 million from a profit of €4.5 million, which the company attributed to foreign exchange pressure and investment in shifting the brand toward a retail-first model. Capital expenditure also climbed to €64 million from €54 million, largely tied to a new shoe production plant in Parma, and corporate costs rose to €12 million from €10.7 million as the Group builds out its structure.
Wall Street Warms Up Slightly
Hedge fund ownership of Zegna climbed to 23 funds from 16 in the prior quarter, a meaningful jump in institutional interest. Short interest sits at 6.14% of the float, enough to suggest real skepticism but not the kind of crowded short position that risks a sharp squeeze. As of September 4, the stock trades at a forward P/E of 21.74, a multiple that assumes steady earnings growth rather than pricing in the profit swings seen this half. That combination suggests that the market is treating the profit decline as noise rather than a trend.
Conclusion
Zegna’s first half makes the case that the underlying business, from direct sales to margin expansion in its core segment to a growing cash surplus, is healthier than the profit line suggests. But the bear case isn’t just about a lapsed accounting gain: a swelling tax rate, a Thom Browne segment now losing money, and heavier capital spending are real costs, not one-time noise. For the growth story to hold, Thom Browne’s retail-first transition needs to start showing results rather than continuing to eat into Adjusted EBIT.
READ NEXT: 10 Best Future Stocks to Buy Under $10 and 12 Best Performing Semiconductor Stocks to Invest In.
Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
