Cartier owner’s shares Richemont Group The luxury goods group reported a 10% rise in third-quarter sales despite pressure on Chinese demand, sending its shares sharply higher on Thursday.

Sales rose to 6.2 billion euros ($6.38 billion) at constant exchange rates in the three months to the end of December, which the Swiss luxury brand said was its “highest ever” quarterly sales. That was well above the 1% growth consensus forecast by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Reuters reported.

At 8:10 a.m. London time, Richemont Group’s share price rose 17.15%.

Other luxury goods stocks Christian Dior, LVMH and Hermes The results show a positive signal for the health of the European luxury goods industry during the holiday shopping period.

The company reported double-digit growth in all regions except Asia Pacific, where sales fell 7%, with mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau down 18% combined.

China, once the main driver of demand for luxury goods, has been a major drag on the industry as the industry struggles to emerge from the macroeconomic recession following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Swiss company’s share price has experienced volatility over the past year amid changes in top management and broader volatility in the luxury goods market.

Share price rises after May appointment New CEO Nicolas Bossthe former head of the group’s Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry brand. The current share price is 28.75% higher than this year.

The results signaled a return to growth for the company, which saw sales fall 1% year-on-year. Sales in the first half of the year By September, the reason was that China’s macroeconomic background was challenging and the situation became more severe. Sales for the six-month period were €10.1 billion.

Until then, high-end groups have been outliers in the broader luxury downturn, report documents Sales volume for the whole year in May.

Luca Solca, senior analyst for global luxury goods at Bernstein, said Thursday’s results provided a positive early sign of a return to health for the broader luxury goods industry.

Solca said in a report that Europe and Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China) “both posted strong sequential improvements driven by higher domestic demand and strong tourist inflows, while the Americas continued to be supported by strong local demand driven”.

“As the market has expected in recent weeks, we view this as an encouraging sign and confirmation that the third quarter of 2024 may be a trough,” he added, referring to the third quarter through September. quarter.

Citi analysts added that they expected the strong results to “support Richemont’s shares and the broader luxury goods sector, which has been out of favor over the past 18 months.”