Demand for 'hard luxury' takes Richemont to new heights

Business

Van Cleef&Arpels store in Barcelona. Credits: Van Cleef&Arpels.

Richemont, the Swedish luxury conglomerate, has reached a market value of more than 100 billion Swiss francs (about 88.9 billion pounds) for the first time. Richemont's shares rose 0.5 percent to 169.15 Swiss francs, marking the sixth consecutive day of gains, Bloomberg reported.

In the third quarter of fiscal year 2024/25, Richemont achieved a 10 percent increase in sales to 6.15 billion euros, which far exceeded market expectations. The strong performance was mainly driven by high consumer spending in the Americas and Europe, where Richemont’s jewellery brands sold well. The jewellery division, with brands such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, performed well with a growth of 14 percent. The watch division, with brands such as IWC, suffered an 8 percent decline.

Unlike some of its peers, such as Kering SA, Richemont appears to be doing well even in a period of uncertainty and market saturation. Experts at Bloomberg and Reuters point out that “hard luxury” – such as jewellery and watches – tend to do better in tough times, as jewellery is seen as more timeless than other fashion items such as handbags.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. It was translated to English using AI and edited by Rachel Douglass.

Richemont