• Switzerland edition

Luxury giant Richemont sees sales soar

Published: 06 Sep 2012 08:24 GMT+02:00 | Print version
Updated: 06 Sep 2012 08:24 GMT+02:00

Swiss luxury goods group Richemont's sales catapulted by 23 percent year-on-year in the first five months of its 2012-13 accounting year, the company announced on Wednesday ahead of its annual assembly.

"The weakening of the euro against the dollar, in particular, had a positive impact on the group's reported sales," it said in a statement.

The group, which owns the Cartier, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Montblanc brands, said that at constant exchange rates the rise in sales for the period ending August 31st stood at 13 percent.

During the same period last year, Richemont saw its sales, at constant exchange rates, jump by 35 percent.

"The prevailing economic uncertainties, the moderation in sales growth since May and the very strong basis of comparison do not prevent us from
maintaining our ambitious investment programme," company chief executive Johann Rupert said in a statement.

"Indeed we remain confident in the long term potential" of Richemont's brands, he added.

On a region-by-region basis, the company said sales in Europe during the past five months had jumped by 23 percent in terms of actual exchange rates and by 19 percent seen in constant rates, the numbers for Asia-Pacific were 27 and 12 percent and for the Americas they were 19 and six percent.

Richemont, which is set to report its half-year results on November 9th, confirmed the outlook given last month that operating profit for the period
would be 20-40 percent higher than last year.

"The increase in net profit for the six-month period is also likely to be in that range," Rupert said.

Following the news, Richemont saw its share price inch up 0.59 percent to 59.50 Swiss francs in mid-morning trading.

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