Richemont Surges as Luxury Demand Keeps Going Strong

By Joshua Kirby

Shares in Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA traded sharply higher Friday after the Swiss luxury-goods group struck a bullish tone despite macroeconomic uncertainty, as tourism in Europe and recovery in China aided consensus-beating first-half earnings.

At 0830 GMT, shares traded 13% higher at CHF121.05.

Richemont booked a 16% organic rise in sales in the first half to 9.68 billion euros ($9.88 billion), with growth accelerating in the second quarter thanks in part to an easing of strict pandemic restrictions in China, where growth in the latter three months was flat. In Europe, revenue was driven both by local clientele and tourists lured by the strong U.S. dollar.

Richemont's core jewelry business, home to the Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels brands, boosted group performance with a 16% rise in sales and a robust operating margin of 37.1%, contributing to above-expectations operating earnings of EUR2.72 billion, the company said.

The jewelers' performance puts them among luxury's star players, analysts at Bernstein said in a note following the update. Second-quarter growth at the division was around the same levels as booked by sector-leading brands at Louis Vuitton, Dior--owned by French group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE--and Hermes International SCA, the analysts said.

"This points to mega-brands at the top of their categories continuing to extend their lead against competitors," they said.

Richemont meanwhile expects further demand for its products, despite macro uncertainty, group Chief Executive Jerome Lambert told journalists in a call to discuss the update. In Europe, the group is seeing no slowdown in demand, which continues to benefit from a postpandemic boom, Mr. Lambert said.

In China, however, the demand situation remains unclear given limited visibility on the government's zero-Covid-19 policy, finance chief Burkhart Grund said.

Write to Joshua Kirby at [e-mail]; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2022 04:00 ET (09:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.