Richemont out with a quarterly sales update

Richemont out with a quarterly sales update, so far the market looks a little disappointed to me, the stock in Zurich was down two and a half percent at the open. I guess that is all you need to know about that, market participants a little disappointed with the numbers. I did a hack from the official release so that you can see the sales table yourself - Trading statement for the three months ended 31 December 2010.

The most important part of this table for me is simple. Sales in Asia Pacific are now close to eclipsing sales in Europe. And that excludes the traditional old powerhouse luxury goods market in Japan. They are "big in Japan". Also, the "other" segment of sales has been given a boost by the purchase of that online portal (the other bit that they did not own) Net-a-porter. Wow, it is crazy to think that two years ago luxury was dead in the water. But Johann Rupert is still cautious (as if he never is) and says that "Gross margin is anticipated to be negatively affected by a stronger Swiss franc given the Group's Swiss manufacturing base and by the planned changes to product lines at one of the Group's Specialist Watchmakers, which will be largely implemented during the coming quarter."