Richemont records over 30% sales growth in three months to December

JSE-listed Richemont has exceeded pre-pandemic sales levels across all its operating regions for the three months ended December 31, 2021, boosted by a strong performance in its American and European businesses.

It posted a 32% jump in sales over the third quarter to the end of December 2020 – at constant exchange rates.

The owner of luxury jewellery brand Cartier, reported double-digit sales growth across all its regions, channels and business areas, resulting in a healthy net cash position of €4.9 billion (about R85.9 billion) in comparison to the € 2.9 billion reported in the comparative quarter in 2020.

“The Americas led the growth with sales up by 55%, followed by Europe and the Middle East and Africa, where sales grew by 42% and 30%, respectively,” the group said in a Sens statement.

Within its channels, retail recorded the strongest group performance with a combined online and retail sales growth of 78% in comparison with the previous comparable quarter.

Pre-Covid-19 sales growth exceeded

The group’s recovery to pre-pandemic sales levels was supported by the increase in demand for its Swiss luxury goods in the Middle East and Africa as well as higher tourism spend driven by the end of year holiday season and the Expo 2020 Dubai.

The onset of the pandemic in 2020 left the luxury market particularly vulnerable as a global collapse seemed imminent.

The sector saw a consumer spend slowdown as more people needed to preserve their money in preparation for the unknown.

In anticipation of this, Richemont took the decision to raise its liquidity levels to weather the Covid-19 storm by placing bonds worth €2.0 billion at the time (about R40 billion) on the market.

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Its share price surged almost 7% on the JSE to R242.29 on Wednesday morning.