Swiss retailer Richemont has released a second quarter sales report highlighted by strong sales improvement.
Richemont’s major jewellery maisons — Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Buccellati — improved by 24 per cent year-on-year to €6.34 billion ($AU9.78 billion) for the six months ending 30 September.
Richemont’s watchmakers which include Piaget and Vacheron Constantin, increased sales 22 per cent to €2.4 billion ($AU3.7 billion).
Despite the positive figures Richemont remains cautious about the future, informing the media in the past week that the company plans scale back marketing and events to reflect a more subdued economic environment.
“Next year is very difficult to predict,” Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron told Reuters.
“China should get better, but when, we don’t know. In the US there are signs of recession but that is not unfolding now, so we don’t know. Will there be an impact on Europe? Probably, but we don’t know.”
Total group revenue jumped 24 per cent to €9.68 billion ($AU14.93 billion). Retail accounts for more than 50 per cent of Richemont’s sales.
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