Kering: sales down 14 percent in first quarter, weighed down by Gucci

Business

Gucci store on New Bond Street, London. Credits: Gucci.

Paris - Luxury group Kering, still weighed down by its flagship brand Gucci, announced on Wednesday a 14 percent drop in sales to 3.88 billion euros in the first quarter of 2025 and is "redoubling its vigilance to overcome macro- economic turbulence".

"As we anticipated, Kering faced a difficult start to the year," said its chief executive officer (CEO) François-Henri Pinault, quoted in a statement. "We are redoubling our vigilance to overcome the macro-economic turbulence affecting our industry and I am confident that we will emerge stronger from the current situation," he added.

Regarding US customs duties, "we believe that we have the capacity to protect our margins through price increases," stressed chief financial officer (CFO) Armelle Poulou during an exchange with journalists.

'Enormous amount of uncertainty'

"Today there is still an enormous amount of uncertainty, so we are in the process of working on it," she added. During the first quarter, Gucci's turnover fell by 24 percent to 1.57 billion euros. "Gucci continues to work on strengthening and renewing its offering, with a good reception for the new handbag lines," Kering assured.

In mid-March, the group announced the appointment of the designer Demna Gvasalia, from Balenciaga, chosen as the new artistic director of Gucci to succeed Sabato de Sarno, who will have stayed only two years. This decision did not satisfy the markets; the next day, Kering's share price fell by 11 percent.

Yves Saint Laurent's sales were down 8 percent to 679 million euros, while those of Bottega Veneta rose 4 percent to 405 million euros. Sales of the 'other houses' (Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen...) fell by 11 percent to 733 million euros.

Kering Eyewear's turnover reached 476 million euros and increased by 4 percent, "driven by the performance of Europe and by the Optical category". In this division, Kering Beauté "achieved a turnover of 71 million euros, up 6 percent on a like-for-like (LFL) basis," according to the press release. Geographically, the decline was particularly marked in Asia-Pacific (-25 percent), "in line" with the fourth quarter, Kering specified.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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