Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Richemont Reports Stable Sales for the First Semester 2024, Results Down for Watches
Sales and profit impacted by specialist watchmakers and China.
Switzerland-based luxury conglomerate Richemont Group has just issued its trading update for the six months ended 30 September 2024. The Group delivered an overall stable performance with flat sales at constant exchange rates and -1% at actual rates, at EUR 10.1 billion. At EUR 2.2 billion, profit is down 12% at constant rates and down 17% at actual rates. This resilience of sales in a challenging environment for the luxury industry was secured by the performance of Jewellery Maisons (Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, in particular), up 2% at actual rates.
On the other hand, sales of specialist watchmakers were down by 17% at actual rates, to EUR 1.7 billion – showing the importance of Jewellery in the group, with sales reported at over EUR 7 billion. For reference, according to the FHS, the Swiss watch exports are down 2.7% compared with 2023 over the first nine months of the year. LVMH reported sales down 2% overall and down 5% for their Watches and Jewelry Division over the same 9-month period.
From a geographical perspective, Richemont business was mostly impacted in Asia Pacific (-18%) due to weaker consumer confidence in China. This was offset by improved performances in Japan (+42%), the Americas (+11%) and Europe (+5%).
The group remain cautious for the coming months. As explained by its Chairman, Johann Rupert: “In the first part of this fiscal year, we continued to deliver sustained resilience in a world where uncertainty has become the norm. We saw solid sales growth across most of our regions offsetting continued weakness in Chinese demand, which, as I had predicted, will take longer to recover and is particularly affecting our specialist watchmakers.”
For more details, please visit www.richemont.com.
