Richemont, luxury company specialized in jewelry and watches, shines in the Swiss Stock Exchange, with a rise of around 7%, then reduced in the late morning, but still above 4%.
The luxury house recorded more robust growth in second quarter compared to the previous period, also witnessing a revival of interest in this jewellery sector and a light at the end of the tunnel as already found in the fashion house such as lvmh e Kering, Burberry o Hermes thanks also to the reappearance of the Chinese consumers and a limited impact of the US duties.
In the first six months, Richemont saw revenues grow by 5% at current exchange rates (+10% at constant exchange rates) to 10,62 billion euros, above expectations of 10,38 billion euros. The figure almost quadrupled.Net income from 457 million euros to 1,8 billion euros, after significant asset write-downs in the same period of the previous year had drastically reduced its profits.
In the period, it was the second quarter who saw it major sprint with revenues up 8% at current exchange rates and 14% at constant exchange rates to €5,2 billion thanks to increases in all geographical areas despite headwinds including currency fluctuations, the increase of gold prices: Europe up 9% at current exchange rates, Americas up 12%, Asia up 4% and Middle East & Africa up 16%. In particular, the note specifies, the area composed of China, Hong Kong and Macau have returned to growth.
Cartier and Van Cleef jewelry are better than Baume & Mercier or Piaget watches.
Looking at the various business segments, the fashion houses jewelry store, which has in its portfolio brands such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, continued to benefit from high demand and increased sales by +9% at current exchange rates in the first half and +12% in the second quarter. Sales of Watches, with brands such as Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Officine Panerai, Piaget, instead, decreased organically by 6% (at current exchange rates) in the first six months, but in the quarter ending in September they limited the decline to -2% at current exchange rates, becoming +3% at constant exchange rates.
Il President Johann Rupert, In a conference call following the results, he said he saw “some first signs” of improvement of the demand in China, but he urged caution, arguing that it was still too early to talk about a full recovery.
According to a report Reuters, Richemont “is coping better than its competitors with both duties US trade and the recent slowdown in the luxury sector, thanks to a stable pricing policy and greater exposure to jewelry compared to fashion, which is more subject to rapid changes". It should also be added that United States and Switzerland have recently reached a commercial agreement to reduce the 39% tariffs on Swiss imports imposed by Trump. The United States costituiscono the largest market for Richemont, which generates approximately 22% of sales.
