In the past year, jewellery sales at Richemont have increased seven per cent. According to Rapaport, this stands out as a rare growth sector for the luxury house, which owns Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Richemont reports that revenue from jewellery rose to USD $4.55 billion in the year that ended March 31. This partially offset the group’s weak watch sales, which slid 15 per cent.
“The continued strength of jewellery was driven by a particularly strong momentum in Asia Pacific and the Americas,” says Richemont’s deputy CFO, Burkhart Grund.
This being said, overall revenue from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels dropped 2 per cent to USD $6.48 billion. Moreover, profit fell 11 per cent to USD $1.84 billion for the year. Rapaport notes that this decline was due to lower wholesale revenue from timepieces: this year, the company bought back inventory from retail partners that were overstocked.
Overall, group sales fell 4 per cent to USD $11.64 billion. Profit plummeted 46 per cent to USD $1.32 billion for the year, which chairman Johann Rupert says “posed challenges” for Richemont.
