Hugo Boss profit dips 27% in 2008

Hugo Boss AG, Germany's largest clothes maker, said profit fell 27 percent in 2008 on one-time costs related to payments for departed managers and forecast a "challenging market environment" for the current year.

Net income declined to 112 million euros from 154 million euros a year earlier, the Metzingen-based company said yesterday in a statement handed out to reporters.

That missed the 126 million-euro median estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Sales advanced 3 percent to 1.69 billion euros and gained 12 percent at the company's own shops.