Cartier owner Richemont reported record quarterly sales on Thursday, beating expectations as a slump in key market China was offset by robust demand in other regions.
The group said sales reached €6.2 billion ($6.3 billion) in the third quarter ending on December 31, a 10% rise from the same period in 2023.
The performance, which includes the key holiday shopping season, was stronger than the forecast by analysts surveyed by Swiss business news agency AWP, who had expected sales to reach €5.6 billion.
Of Richemont’s business segments, jewelry maisons, including Van Cleef & Arpels, contributed the most to growth. Watches, on the other hand, were trailing behind, contracting 8%.
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region fell 7% in the third quarter, dragged down by an 18% drop in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Richemont reported healthier sales elsewhere in Asia, with “positive results” in most countries and double-digit growth in South Korea.
In Japan, whose performance is counted separately from the rest of Asia, sales rose 19%.
Meanwhile, sales in Europe also surged 19% as local shoppers and tourists from North America and the Middle East splurged.
China is a major market for luxury companies, but the sector’s sales were hit last year by weak domestic consumption in the world’s second-biggest economy.
The luxury sector has been reeling from a crisis in the last few years as sales dropped sharply following the pandemic-era spending spree. Richemont was among the companies that were in a bind as shoppers bought fewer high-end items, particularly in its key Chinese market.
While it might be a while before China recovers (if at all), luxury majors are now seeing the dynamics shift as growth is being driven less by one group of shoppers and more by a mix of markets, including Japan and the U.S.
Richemont’s results will “add to the debate that the more premium luxury brands are likely to outperform, the luxury slowdown is more cyclical than structural (at least at the high end) and that there is enough growth in the rest of the world to offset China weakness,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note Thursday.
Richemont’s earnings set the tone for what to expect as the 2025 earnings season kicks off.
Earlier this week, Brunello Cucinelli, a top-end Italian brand known for its cashmere apparel, reported strong quarterly revenue, forecasting a sales growth of 10% through 2025 and 2026.
Other luxury majors, including the French conglomerate LVMH, are due to report results later in the month.
“It seems that despite the challenging situation in China and in watches, Richemont has never been stronger,” said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at investment firm Vontobel.
Richemont shares soared around 15% on the Swiss stock exchange in morning deals.
