A positive start to the year for the Richemont Group

The Richemont group published its quarterly report on 15 July this year with sales growth of +20% at real exchange rates and +12% at constant exchange rates, representing an increase of around 860 million euros.

The revenue growth in the quarter was driven by strong growth in Europe, the US and Japan.

The European market saw an increase in domestic demand, and a return of American and Middle Eastern tourists to the continent, resulting in strong European sales growth of over 42% to €1.2 billion.

However, the Chinese government's strict policy has led to a slowdown in the group's sales. Indeed, sales in mainland China were 37% lower in the quarter. However, the report mentions that "the decline was reduced to 12% in June as restrictions were gradually eased." Good results in other markets such as Australia, South Korea and Singapore partially slowed the decline in sales in the region, resulting in a total decrease of 15% in Asia Pacific.

The increase in domestic spending in the Americas led to a 25% increase in sales in the region to 1.3 bn euros. This "strong performance" therefore placed the US as the Group's largest market in the quarter accounting for 22% of total sales.

All channels showed an increase in sales with the retail network showing the strongest performance with a growth of +18%. The Jewellery Houses recorded the strongest sales growth at +12% at constant exchange rates (3.015 billion euros). As for the watch sector, the group noted an increase of 10% to 1.0 billion euros. Growth was achieved in particular thanks to "an outperformance", according to the report, by A. Lange & Söhne, Panerai and Vacheron Constantin.

Finally, on the stock market side, Zuzanna Pusz of UBS summarised the report by declaring on the zonebourse website: "Overall, solid results confirm the sector's good trends, but are unlikely to move shares.