Luxury group Kering continues to shine

In the third quarter, the French Kering group saw its revenue rise sharply again. All major brands (Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent) contributed to the group’s growth.

Better than expected

In the past quarter, Kering achieved a 14.2 % turnover growth to 3.88 billion euros (+ 11.6 % on a comparable basis). This growth comes courtesy of the strong performance of the three leading houses in the French luxury group: Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

Gucci continues to grow at the rate of double-digit (+ 10.7 % in comparable terms), although there has been a slowdown in growth. Nevertheless, the result was more than the + 8 % that was expected by analysts. Royalties from eyewear and beauty products rose by an astonishing 31 %. Gucci is by far the most important brand in the group, accounting on its own for a turnover of 2.37 billion euros in the third quarter.

Yves Saint Laurent also achieved double-digit growth (albeit only just, at + 10.8 % on a comparable basis) and a turnover of 506 million euros. Over the same period last year, growth was 16.5 %. The brand does not yet have a strong presence on the Chinese market and wants to invest heavily there in the future.

Recovery

Bottega Veneta, since September under CEO Bartolomeo Rongone, did surprisingly well and saw sales increase by 9.8 % (+ 6.9 % on a comparable basis). In the third quarter of 2018, the label was still dealing with a fall in turnover of 8.4 %, Fashion Network writes. The brand is recovering more quickly than expected thanks to collections by the new creative director, Daniel Lee, who joined the company last year.

For the first nine months of the year, Kering’s revenues amounted to 11.52 billion euros, compared to 9.83 billion euros a year ago. On a comparable basis, the group grew by 14 % over the same period.