Prada, the privately owned Italian fashion house, reported on Tuesday a 22 per cent fall in net profit for 2008 of €99m and sought to position itself for growth when the global economic crisis eases.

The Prada group, which owns Prada, Miu Miu and Church’s, among other luxury labels, had revenues of slightly more than €1.6bn in the year to January 31 2009, only slightly lower than in the previous year in spite of the sharp downturn in the luxury goods market during 2008.