Swatch Group’s sales and profit fell during 2024, the Swiss watchmaker said on Thursday, as improvements in the United States and Japan failed to offset a steep downturn in China.
The maker of Omega, Longines and Tissot watches said its full-year sales fell 14.6% to CHF6.74 billion ($7.44 billion), missing forecasts for CHF6.95 billion in a consensus of analysts compiled by Visible Alpha.
Net income at the company, which also makes the Swatch plastic watches, plunged to CHF219 million from CHF890 million a year earlier, missing forecasts for CHF365 million.
Swatch said it was seeing “persistently difficult market conditions and weak demand for consumer goods overall in China”.
Its sales in greater China, and South East Asia – which are heavily dependent on Chinese tourism – fell by 30%.
The figures reflected the ongoing difficulties for many luxury companies in China, where customers have been shunning expensive purchases during the country’s economic slowdown.
Swatch is highly exposed to China, Hong Kong and Macau, generating 27% of its sales in the region, down from 33% a year earlier.
Italian luxury goods group Salvatore Ferragamo said on Thursday its revenue dropped by 4% at constant currencies in the fourth quarter, flagging “encouraging results” from its direct-to-consumer sales which were overall flat in the last three months of the year.
Sales in the North American region, which accounted for 29% of total revenue, were up 6.3% in the quarter. However, the Asia Pacific area saw a 25% drop in revenue at constant exchange rates.
The slowdown in global demand for luxury goods, especially in China, has made the group’s turnaround harder. Overall preliminary revenues reached 1.03 billion euros in 2024, in line with analysts’ estimates, according to an LSEG consensus.
“January shows an acceleration in our DTC channel’s growth, albeit supported by the different timing of the Chinese New Year and a favourable comparison base versus last year”, Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti said in a statement.
Spanish fashion and fragrance company Puig reported a 14.3% rise in fourth-quarter sales on Thursday, beating analyst expectations for the key holiday period.
The Barcelona-based company behind perfume brands Rabanne, Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier said net sales for the three months to Dec. 31 were 1.36 billion euros ($1.42 billion), above the 1.30 billion euro average forecast from analysts polled by LSEG.
Puig, which generates most of its revenue from fragrance sales, is heavily reliant on the holiday season, with analysts estimating that nearly half of its prestige perfumes are sold in the quarter that includes Black Friday and Christmas.
The company, which also owns luxury skincare and make-up brands Byredo and Charlotte Tilbury, said full-year sales reached 4.79 billion euros ($4.99 billion), up 11% from 2023, surpassing its goal of increasing sales faster than the 6-7% forecast for the global premium beauty market.
The average of analyst estimates was for sales of 4.72 billion euros in 2024, given that it is less exposed to sluggish demand in China and that more than half of Puig’s revenue comes from Europe, the Middle East and Africa while 18% comes from the United States.
The 2024 performance of larger rivals such as Estee Lauder and L’Oreal was hampered by muted demand from China, where a property crisis and high youth unemployment have curbed consumer spending.
Puig said sales in its core fragrance and fashion business grew by 21% in the holiday quarter.
Sales in the make-up division fell 7.2%, with its Charlotte Tilbury brand affected by a voluntary withdrawal of select batches of Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray in December over what Puig described as “an isolated quality issue in a limited number of batches” detected during routine product testing.
UK-based circular economy specialist Reconomy has named long-term Amazon fashion business exec Rakhshan Zahid as chief executive of its Re-use loop, effective immediately.
She will lead the division, made up of Advanced Supply Chain and ReBound, which offers “intelligent platforms and circular logistics through technology-led supply chain, logistics and fulfilment solutions”.
With a career spanning e-commerce and financial services, Zahid “brings extensive expertise in driving strategic growth, operational excellence and innovation”, Reconomy said, adding: “Her passion for fostering inclusive and collaborative workplaces aligns well with Reconomy’s values”.
Over 10 years at Amazon, she’s held leadership roles in fashion and marketplace businesses, most recently leading the fashion accessories business across Europe.
She succeeds Claire Webb who will continue in the business throughout this transition as executive chair, having been CEO and MD of Advanced Supply Chain for five years, leading the business through its acquisition by Reconomy in 2021.
Since her appointment as Re-use executive chair, Webb “has played a crucial role in the growth and success of Reconomy’s Re-use loop, including bringing together the leadership teams of ReBound and Advanced Supply Chain to facilitate closer collaboration, realise operational synergies and establish a market-leading global end-to-end returns offer”. She also led the business to open a facility in Nettetal, Germany to become a European superhub for returns and established the business’ Retail Ready service in Europe.
The Re-use businesses have also collaborated across Reconomy to develop its textile EPR solution to help brands and retailers comply with emerging regulations being introduced internationally. Webb now plans to pursue non-executive board-level opportunities.
Guy Wakeley, chief executive at Reconomy, said: “[Our] Re-use loop is one of our key divisions and counts many of the most successful, fast-growing retailers and e-commerce brands as customers. Rakhshan… brings an impressive track record and considerable experience of significantly scaling retail businesses, which will prove invaluable as we embark on the next phase of growth for Re-use.
Jelle Schoenmaker continues as MD of ReBound and Ben Balfour continues to lead Advanced Supply Chain, also as MD.