MILAN, (Reuters) – Sales of Moncler luxury Italian outwear brand grew 30% in key quarters and by 44% over the entire year. The growth was thanks to the strong U.S. market and China markets. Analyst expectations were surpassed.

The strong demand for luxury apparel has helped most luxury companies recover quickly from the effects of the coronavirus epidemic. Moncler has been the most successful luxury brand to surpass market expectations for holiday quarter revenue.

The company provided an analyst forecast of 1.99 billion euros. Full-year combined revenues include Stone Island.

Remo Ruffini, chief executive of the company said that the start to 2022 had been marked with considerable uncertainty. This was especially true on the front geopolitical. However, he also spoke out about important indicators which gave him confidence for the future.

He said that the group would be able to profit from this year’s opportunities from Stone Island and Moncler celebrating their 70 and 40-year anniversary, respectively.

Moncler sales grew by 20% in October-December 2020 compared with the same quarter in 2020. They also increased 30% in 2019 before the pandemic.

Stone Island, which is included in Moncler’s accounts starting April, contributed 66,000,000 euros to Moncler sales that year.

The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), rose to 603million euro in 2021. Net profit rose to 411million Euros, which is higher than analysts expected of 573million euros and 386million euros.

The company suggested paying a dividend at 0.6 euros per share.

($1 = 0.8975 euros)