Richemont: half-year net profit climbs to 2.5 billion euros

Zurich - Swiss group Richemont, owner of jewellery house Cartier, reported a 39 percent increase in net profit to 2.5 billion euros (2.76 billion dollars) on Friday for its staggered first half.

For the period from April to September, the Geneva-based group generated revenue of nearly 12.3 billion euros, up 16 percent. According to a press release, this growth was driven by an 18 percent increase in its jewellery sales to 9.1 billion euros.

Its watchmaking revenue amounted to 1.7 billion euros, up 9 percent against a backdrop of double-digit growth across all major regions except Asia-Pacific, where sales were held back by China.

Its other activities, which include fashion brands Chloé and Alaïa, Montblanc pens, Delvaux handbags and Gianvito Rossi shoes, generated revenue of 1.4 billion euros, up 9 percent.

Analysts polled by Swiss agency AWP had forecast average revenue of 12.26 billion euros, including 9.26 billion euros in jewellery and 1.64 billion euros in watchmaking.

“Richemont delivered solid results in a volatile geopolitical and macroeconomic environment,” said chairman Johann Rupert in the press release, adding that he expects similar conditions “in the foreseeable future”.

Across all activities, sales excluding currency effects grew by 13 percent in Europe, 16 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, 30 percent in Japan, which is accounted for separately, and 23 percent in the Americas. Conversely, they contracted by 2 percent in the Middle East and Africa.