Italian luxury group Prada sees revenues rising to 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in four to five years, its chief executive said on Thursday.

“We will reach five billion euros … in a matter of four to five years. Covid-19 has given a strong shock to the whole system, we will see a strong acceleration when it will be over,” Patrizio Bertelli said in an interview with Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

“We have not grown as much as we would have liked so far, but we are the group that has best maintained its identity,” he added.

The Hong-Kong listed group said it would close 2020 with an operating profit. Net revenues in 2019 were 3.226 billion euros. 

The fallout from the Covid-19 crisis triggered a 40 per cent decline in Prada’s revenues in the first half of last year, leading to a 196 million euros operating loss.

In the interview, Bertelli said there could be positive signs for the luxury sector as a whole from March, when lockdowns in many European countries may end.   

The executive, founder of the brand with wife Miuccia, said the company was not interested in acquiring other brands but would press ahead with buying production plants instead, investing 100 million euros per year in sites and shops in coming years. 

“‘Made in Italy’ production will be more and more important,” he said, noting 80 per cent of Prada’s current production is based in Italy.

• Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia. Editing by Giulia Segreti and Mark Potter, of Reuters.