LVMH Watch Brands Hublot, Zenith Expect Sales Rebound in 2021

A watch is displayed at a shop of LVMH's Hublot, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A watch is displayed at a shop of LVMH's Hublot, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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LVMH Watch Brands Hublot, Zenith Expect Sales Rebound in 2021

A watch is displayed at a shop of LVMH's Hublot, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A watch is displayed at a shop of LVMH's Hublot, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Swiss luxury watchmakers Hublot and Zenith, both part of French group LVMH, expect sales to rebound in 2021, after a difficult 2020 and a challenging start to the new year, their chief executives said on Monday.

Swiss watchmakers’ sales slid last year as stores were affected by pandemic-related closures and as tourism, an important driver of the luxury watch business, collapsed.

Some companies, which have a strong presence in mainland China, have benefited from a rebound in demand, such as Richemont, which returned to growth in the final quarter of 2020.

“For Hublot, we expect 15-20% sales growth this year ... In China, we still have a lot of potential, we expect very strong growth of 30-50% there,” CEO Ricardo Guadalupe told Reuters in a phone interview during LVMH watch week.

Physical watch fairs have been cancelled again in 2021, so that LVMH’s watch brands are showing off their luxury timepieces virtually this week.

TAG Heuer, the group’s biggest watch label, is not taking part, but its new CEO Frederic Arnault said in a video message the brand had been “very resilient” last year.

Hublot’s Guadalupe said sales growth in the final quarter had been better than in the third for LVMH’s watch and jewelry business overall as well as for Hublot. LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods group, is due to publish full-year results on Tuesday.

Guadalupe said growth at Hublot had come from mainland China, while Macau had also improved since October. Hong Kong was still difficult, due to the political situation, but Japan and the Middle East were doing well, he said.

Zenith CEO Julien Tornare said the brand’s successful turnaround was interrupted last year by the pandemic, but Japan, China and the United States should fuel growth this year.

Tornare said problems in Hong Kong, formerly the No.1 market for Swiss watches, would not disappear with the end of the pandemic and were a major headache for watchmakers.

Meanwhile, Guadalupe said Western Europe remained difficult due to the lack of tourists. Store closures related to COVID-19 restrictions are currently hitting sales in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

He said the brand was looking to further streamline its distribution network in the coming years, but would open four new stores in second-tier cities in China this year.

A monitoring system helped Hublot to avoid excess stock build-up at retailers, but in some hard-hit areas, such as cruise ships, the brand was ready to take back unsold timepieces, Guadalupe said.

Online sales of Hublot watches, which cost 18,000 euros ($21,864.60) on average, are still small and are expected to reach 2-3% of total sales this year. Zenith, whose watches cost 10,000 Swiss francs on average, sold about 5-6% of its watches online last year.



Italy's Cucinelli Maintains Sales Growth Forecasts for this Year and Next

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Brunello Cucinelli is seen on a door at their company headquarters in Solomeo village, near Perugia, Italy, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Brunello Cucinelli is seen on a door at their company headquarters in Solomeo village, near Perugia, Italy, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo
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Italy's Cucinelli Maintains Sales Growth Forecasts for this Year and Next

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Brunello Cucinelli is seen on a door at their company headquarters in Solomeo village, near Perugia, Italy, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Brunello Cucinelli is seen on a door at their company headquarters in Solomeo village, near Perugia, Italy, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

Italian luxury fashion group Brunello Cucinelli on Wednesday confirmed its expectations for sales growth of around 10% in both 2025 and 2026 despite looming US tariffs.
Starting from its Fall-Winter 2025 collections, the company will work on a new price list in the US in response to the possible impact of tariffs but it does not expect this to have much impact on its business, Reuters reported.
"We do not believe that this measure will result in a significant change in purchases by American clients," it said in a statement, noting the strength of its brand.
The group said sales had risen 10.5% at constant exchange rates in the first quarter, boosted by a solid performance in retail and wholesale channels.
Best known for its cashmere garments, the Italian company sold 37% of its products in the Americas region last year.
First quarter sales came in at 341.5 million euros ($388.2 million), broadly in line with an analysts' forecast of 343 million euros, according to LSEG data.
Amid a slowdown in luxury demand, the group has so far outperformed the industry thanks to its high-end positioning.