Richemont Annual Jewelry Sales $4.17 Billion

While many jewelry retailers suffered a tough year, luxury retailer Richemont reported a strong rise in sales. "For the year as a whole, all business areas performed well with the Group’s specialist watchmakers reporting particularly strong growth," the company said.

Total sales were €5.301 billion ($8.32 billion), year-over-year increase of 10 percent in actual rates, but a 16 percent rise in constant rates.

The Jewellery Maisons, the firms jewelry companies, ended the fiscal year with a 16 percent growth in constant rates to €2.657 billion ($4.17 billion).

Richemont said that at constant exchange rates, Cartier reported growth in all regions, while Van Cleef & Arpels enjoyed very strong sales growth, albeit from a significantly lower base.

The Specialist watchmakers had €1.378 billion ($2.16 billion) in sales, a 20 percent increase in constant rates.

The Asia-Pacific region showed the highest rate of growth and all regions reported underlying growth. The strong growth in sales of luxury products seen during the first nine months continued during the final quarter of the financial year.

The underlying growth was offset by the weakness of the dollar and the yen.