Cartier-owner Richemont's sales dip on China downturn, jewellery shines

By John Revill and Mimosa Spencer

ZURICH, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Cartier jewellery owner Richemont reported a dip in quarterly sales on Friday, as the luxury goods group largely offset tougher conditions in China with growth elsewhere.

The owner of Swiss watchmakers including IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget said sales fell by 1% at constant exchange rates to 4.81 billion euros ($5.19 billion), slightly above analyst consensus forecasts of 4.78 billion euros cited by HSBC (HSBC).

Big sales increases in the Americas, Japan and the Middle East helped offset an 18% drop in the Asia Pacific region in the three months to the end of September.

Chairman Johann Rupert said Richemont had shown "sustained resilience in a world where uncertainty has become the norm," noting that its jewellery business continued to do well.

"Whilst I remain cautious in this uncertain context I am confident in our ability to navigate the current as well as future cycles," Rupert said in a statement, adding Richemont would continue to invest in production and marketing.

Like other luxury companies, Richemont has been battling weaker demand in China caused by the economic slowdown in the world's second biggest economy.

Its luxury rivals have reported mixed fortunes, with LVMH missing third quarter sales forecasts, saying consumer confidence in China had fallen to pandemic-era lows.

Analysts have been cutting forecasts for the luxury goods sector over the past few months to adjust for the slump in China, with HSBC (HSBC) last week lowering its estimate for Richemont's organic sales growth next year to 0.3% from 2.9% previously.

Richemont, which makes necklaces, earrings and bracelets under the Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Buccellati brands, on Friday reported sales increasing by 4% at its jewellery business, while watches clocked a 19% downturn.

"Jewellery maisons, responsible for the bulk of group profits - produced a resilient performance," said Bernstein analyst Luca Solca, although watches performed much worse than expected.

Richemont's net profit for the first half of its financial year fell to 458 million euros from 1.51 billion euros as it took a 1.27 billion euro non-cash write down after agreeing to sell its Yoox Net-A-Porter online fashion and accessories business to German luxury platform Mytheresa . ($1 = 0.9275 euros) (Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Friederike Heine and Alexander Smith)