Richemont has brushed aside the gloom and doom of the global watch market, reporting sales of its watches and jewelry grew by 10 percent in the year to March.
While figures for Swiss watch exports show sluggish sales to Hong Kong and the US this year, Richemont’s brands, which include Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Officine Panerai, seem to have some degree of collective immunity.
The company says jewelry and watch sales did very well in both the US and Asian markets.
Richemont has reported net more than doubled to €2.79 billion euros (US$3.12 billion) for the full year, largely driven by a one-off gain of €1.38 billion euros relating to its acquisition of Yoox Net-A-Porter Group (YNAP).
Sales reached €13.99 billion, 27 percent up on last year when including the recently acquired online businesses YNAP and Watchfinder, and up 8 per cent with those companies excluded.
By brand, the growth was led by jewelry brands Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, with IWC and Jaeger LeCoultre, also posting higher growth.