Richemont increases revenue: Sale of YNAP not quite as burdensome

Jewellery and watch group Richemont increased its revenue in the past financial year. While the jewellery business grew, watch sales continued to decline, the company, which owns brands such as Cartier and IWC, announced in Geneva on Friday. Excluding the online division YNAP, which it sold, revenue in the financial year to the end of March rose 4 percent to 21.4 billion euros.

The operating profit margin shrank by 2.4 percentage points to 20.9 percent. Analysts had expected 21.4 percent, half a percentage point more.

The burden from the sale of YNAP was lower, at one billion euros, than the 1.3 billion euros initially announced, it added. Richemont announced in early October, after a long search, that it would sell YNAP to Mytheresa. The transaction was completed at the end of April.

Overall, without YNAP, there was a surplus of almost 3.8 billion euros, 1 percent less than a year earlier. With YNAP, it was 2.75 billion euros (plus 17 percent). The company clearly exceeded analysts' expectations.

The shareholders are to receive a dividend of CHF 3.00 per public share (A share). In the previous year, Richemont had paid out CHF 2.75 per share.