16% drop for Richemont between April and August

On September 9, Richemont published its results for the first five months of the 2003-2004 financial year. The large luxury group announced a fall in sales of 16%
(-7% before currency conversions). This fall doesn't affect all the sectors in the same manner. If it attains -20% in leather goods and fashion, it is only -11% in watches and -8% in jewellery.
Cartier in particular seems to have problems, which is in contrast to the healthy results announced by its competitor Louis Vuitton of LVMH, which has managed to considerably rejuvenate its image.
The results of the last two months, however, suggest signs of a slow business recovery.
These results, in the majority better than the analysts' forecast with their -20%, paradoxically increased Richemont's share prices by 7.5% on the Swiss stock market on the day of the announcement.

http://www.richemont.com
(please credit Europa Star)

Source: europastar.com
September 2003