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Swiss luxury goods company Richemont has reported largely unchanged sales for the first quarter of the financial year. | Source: Monochrome

Richemont revenue stable despite adverse economy

3.5 k views | Posted July 18, 2024 | By Samuel Ord

Swiss luxury goods company Richemont has reported largely unchanged sales for the first quarter of the financial year.

Sales increased by 1 per cent to €5.27 billion ($AUD9.35 billion) for the three months ending in June.

Revenue increased by 10 per cent in the Americas and 5 per cent in Europe. Japan was the strongest improver, with sales rising by 59 per cent. A notable decline in China offset these positive results.

Sales among jewellery brands – including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Buccellati – increased by 4 per cent, while watch brands declined by 13 per cent.

“All regions delivered growth except for Asia Pacific, where sales contracted by 18 per cent, as higher sales in South Korea and Malaysia only partially mitigated a 27 per cent decline in China, Hong Kong and Macau combined,” the company said in a statement.

Richemont recently announced a significant management change, with Nicolas Bos appointed CEO. Louis Ferla is the new head of Cartier, while Catherine Rénier will succeed Bos at Van Cleef & Arpels.

“Richemont gives its CEOs wide but not complete autonomy in how they run the brands under their charge with the idea that the group is there to take care of support systems and let its stars lead in terms of what the brands produce and how they sell the brand and the products,” writes James Gurney of WatchPro.

“In practice, the group is an ever-present party to decisions, even down to peer review of product decisions.”

He continued: “It’s this tendency, shared by LVMH and the Swatch Group, that’s often used to account for the gap in growth numbers that now exist between the groups and the big independents, the idea being that the laser-like focus towards a single purpose that the likes of Richard Mille can deploy sits in stark contrast to the unwieldy apparatus of a group.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that LVMH owner Bernard Arnault has taken an equity stake in Richemont.