SJX Watches
Business News: Richemont Six-Month Watch Sales Plunge 38%
Richemont just reported its sales for the first half of the financial year – the six months to end September 2020 – and most of the numbers are in the red. The Swiss luxury group that owns Cartier and IWC saw sales fall 26% year on year, though the quarterly numbers show a gradual recovery. Sales were down by 47% in the first quarter but recovered enough to dip just 6% in the second quarter, owing to a gradual reopening of the economy. This no doubt inspired optimism amongst investors, who sent the group’s share price up almost 9% by the close of trading. Optimism notwithstanding, the declines extended to all performance metrics. Operating margin fell sharply to just 8.3%, almost half that for the same period in 2019. The falls in sales and margins collectively led to stark, 82% fall in operating profit. Net profit cratered, going from €869m in the first half of 2019 to just €159m. Beyond the negative numbers, the report was also notable for what it did not include. With rumours swirling about changes to Richemont management at the very top level – particularly about the tenure of chief executive Jerome Lambert – it was widely speculated the results announcement would include personnel changes, but nothing was forthcoming. Woe for watches and everywhere but Asia The global pandemic meant a global fall in sales, but with drops varying from region to region. As expected, Asia Pacific performed the best, with sales falling just 4%. Negative growth in the fir...
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