Shoppers queued to enter the Cartier store on Canton Road in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, a subsidiary of Cie. Financiere Richemont SA.
Billy HC Guo | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Swiss luxury group stocks Richemont Group Shares rose 6.3% on Friday after the company reported record full-year sales despite lower spending in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Cartier boss said that despite the soft outlook for luxury brands, group sales rose 3% in real terms in the year to March to a record high of 20.6 billion euros ($22.38 billion).
The stock fell slightly after trading opened at 9 a.m. London time, rising 5.6%.
Actual sales fell 1% to 4.8 billion euros in the fourth quarter, driven by the economic slowdown in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chairman Johann said: “Our sales in the Asia-Pacific region were weak in the fourth quarter, which was more than offset by higher growth in other regions. As we forecast, a sustainable rebound in Chinese demand will take some time.” Rupert said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the company announced Van Cleef & Arpels CEO Nicolas Bos as its new group CEO, effective June 1.
