Richemont rebounds in final quarter

Despite a sharp decline during the first half of the year due to the Covid crisis, Swiss luxury group Richemont managed to curb the damage well over the past financial year.

Jewellery

Thanks to a very strong final quarter with a 30 per cent increase in sales, Richemont was able to curb the decline in sales to 8 per cent for the whole year. Total revenues reached 13.4 billion euros, mainly driven by high demand for Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery. The watch division had a much tougher time and saw its sales fall by around a fifth over the financial year as a whole.

In the Asia-Pacific region, and especially on the Chinese mainland, the luxury group even achieved growth of more than 10 per cent, thanks to the strong local anchoring of the so-called Jewellery Maisons. Growth in this region compensated for the decline in other areas.

Operating profit ultimately fell by only 3 per cent to 1.48 billion euros. Richemont was able to improve its operating margin by 50 basis points to 11.2 per cent thanks to tight control of operating costs. The group also benefited, albeit to a lesser extent, from several support measures such as rent reductions and government funding related to covid-19.