The business with expensive watches and jewelery is booming and the luxury goods group Richemont is also benefiting from this. It grew strongly in the 2022/23 financial year, which ended in March. However, a write-down of 3.4 billion euros on the online business, which is being sold to the British online retailer Farfetch, weighed on the result – although this was not unexpected.
The Richemont Group’s sales with brands such as Cartier, Piaget and IWC climbed by 19 percent to 19.95 billion euros in the past financial year, according to a statement on Friday. This does not include the sold activities of the online subsidiary YNAP. Adjusted for currency effects, Richemont grew 14 percent more than analysts had expected.
The operating result (EBIT) from continued business reached a good 5 billion euros. On a comparable basis, this is an increase of 34 percent. The bottom line is that the YNAP impairment pushed profit down to €301 million, after a plus of €2.1 billion in the previous fiscal year.
All regions, sales channels and divisions contributed to the growth, it said. In the jewelry division in particular, business was running at full speed: thanks mainly to Cartier, sales in local currencies climbed by 16 percent. Looking at the regions, business in Asia picked up some speed again after China’s strict corona measures weighed on it.
Richemont proposes a dividend of CHF 3.50 per share to the shareholders. In addition, Richemont launches a share buyback. The group intends to acquire up to 10 million A shares, which is said to represent 1.7 percent of the capital and 1.0 percent of the voting rights.
Richemont does not make any concrete statements about the outlook. However, the group sees itself well positioned to serve the increasing demand. According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Johann Rupert, this is likely to be driven in particular by a return to Chinese travel. Meanwhile, economic volatility and geopolitical uncertainty are likely to continue to shape the market environment. (dpa)