The jewelery and watch group Richemont has shaken off the Corona crisis and significantly increased sales and profits in the 2021/22 financial year. In the final quarter, however, the lockdowns in the important Chinese market, supply bottlenecks and the consequences of the Ukraine war slowed the Geneva-based company down somewhat.
In the fiscal year that ended in March, sales climbed 46 percent to 19.2 billion euros, as Richemont announced on Friday. Adjusted for currency effects, sales increased by 44 percent. After nine months, ie from April to December, there was still growth of 50 percent.
Richemont’s profit grows strongly
The luxury goods group, which includes brands such as Cartier, IWC and Piaget, exceeded the figure for 2019/20 by a significant 35 percent. At that time, the Corona consequences had hardly affected the business. In addition, the sales are above the expectations of the analysts, who had expected sales of almost 19 billion euros.
Last year’s strong recovery also had a positive effect on earnings: Operating profit increased by 129 percent to EUR 3.39 billion with a margin of 17.7 percent (previous year: 11.2 percent). And the net profit rose by 61 percent to 2.08 billion euros. With these figures, however, Richemont clearly missed the expectations of the analysts.
The increase in profit also benefits the shareholders. The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of CHF 2.25 per share. A year earlier it was CHF 2.00.
As always, the group remains cautious about the outlook. The environment remains uncertain, but Richemont is well positioned for future growth, Chairman of the Board Johan Rupert is quoted in the statement. (dpa)