Dolce & Gabbana profits have virtually quadrupled from a year ago.

A year ago the Italian luxury fashion house’s profit was €17.93 million (US$21.5 million), while this year the two owners of the group cashed in dividends of €80 million, reports CPP-Luxury.com.

Its consolidated group turnover for last year hit €1.3 billion, compared to €1.18 the previous year, a rise of 9.6 per cent.

The group includes Dolce & Gabbana Holding, Dolce & Gabbana Trademarks, which controls the group’s licences, and Dolce & Gabbana.

Retail business has risen 7.1 per cent to €769 million, while the wholesale business jumped 8.7 per cent. Only licences dropped, by 9.2 per cent to €61.2 million.

At home in Italy, Dolce & Gabbana has only a 24 per cent market share, compared to 27 per cent in the rest of Europe, 13 per cent in the Americas and 6 per cent in Japan.