Swiss watch exports’ downward trajectory resumed in February after a one-month respite, with all main markets seeing a decline.
Longines
Shipments from Switzerland’s third-biggest exporting industry fell 8.2% overall, hampered by slow demand in China, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said Thursday. In total, 102,000 fewer watches were exported.
Only watches with an export price below 200 Swiss francs ($228) posted a positive result. Mid-market watches — priced between 500 and 3,000 francs — fell 15.4%, while timepieces above 3,000 francs slipped 7.3%. Precious metal watches held up better than steel watches, despite high gold prices.
The figures highlight persistently tough conditions for Swiss-based watchmakers controlled by the likes of Richemont, Swatch Group AG and LVMH, as well as independents including Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Rolex SA after a boom during the pandemic. Exports were down 3% last year.
Even the US market, which had previously held up, faltered in February with shipments down 6.7%.
The data “may fuel ongoing investor concerns around US luxury demand moderation,” RBC analyst Piral Dadhania said in a note.
US consumer confidence fell the most since August 2021 last month on concerns about the outlook for the broader economy, indicating that uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s policies is weighing on consumer spending.
Poland’s biggest e-commerce company Allegro said on Monday it has named Marcin Kusmierz as its new CEO from June.
Reuters
Kusmierz will replace Roy Perticucci, Allegro’s CEO since September 2022, who will become the group’s special adviser.
He will formally take over from Perticucci as CEO of Allegro’s Polish unit in May and of the group at the annual shareholder meeting in June, Allegro said.
The transition will enable a “smooth and structured” handover of responsibilities, Allegro added.
Under Perticucci, an e-commerce veteran who had previously led European operations and customer fulfilment at Amazon.com, Allegro launched its marketplaces in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary after it bought Mall Group in 2022.
Kusmierz will need to deal with the continued turnaround of Mall Group and competition from domestic and international rivals, including Temu.
He has more than 25 years of professional experience in the technology, e-commerce, fintech, and AI industries, Allegro said.
Most recently he was CEO at Shoper, opens new tab, which offers software for e-commerce businesses. Under Kusmierz’s leadership, Shoper achieved the highest growth of any e-commerce platform in Central and Eastern Europe between 2021 and 2024, Allegro said.
In recent years, Kusmierz has also successfully invested in payment, logistics, cloud, and AI companies, the company added.
PVH Corp., the owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, is expecting sales growth to be flat or slightly positive this year, outpacing analysts’ expectations.
Calvin Klein
The outlook, which excludes currency fluctuations, surpasses the average analyst estimate of a 0.5% revenue decline for the period from the previous year. It’s more cautious than the view offered by Chief Executive Officer Stefan Larsson in December, when he projected “modest growth” for 2025. Revenue decreased 5% on a constant currency basis in 2024, the company said in a statement.
The shares jumped 14% at 4:16 p.m. in extended trading in New York.
Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger sales were good over the holidays and started the year at a solid pace, but then revenue slowed starting in February, Larsson said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
While sales improved slightly in March, “it’s still a tougher consumer backdrop in North America and then a continued tough backdrop in the China consumer as well,” he said.
US and Canadian consumers are facing inflationary pressure and are reporting lower confidence in their feelings about the future, Larsson added.
In February, PVH was blacklisted by China as part of actions Beijing has taken in the escalating trade war with the US since President Donald Trump took office. China’s Ministry of Commerce in February said that PVH undertook damaging actions against Chinese companies, without elaborating. Chinese authorities said in September that PVH was being investigated for allegedly boycotting cotton sourced from the Xinjiang region.
Shares of PVH have slumped nearly 40% this year, in part due to uncertainty over what actions China might take against the company. Citi analyst Paul Lejuez recently wrote that punishments could include fines, store closures or revoking work permits and denying workers access to the country.
Larsson declined to comment on China’s actions against PVH and said the company would provide additional details during its call with analysts on Tuesday morning. The company has previously said it complies with laws in all countries where it operates.
PVH generated around 6% of revenue in China in fiscal 2023 and around 16% of profit.
PVH sees revenue in its current quarter in the range of flat to down 1% from a year earlier on a constant currency basis — less than the average decline estimated by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The company also said on Monday that it plans to enter into an accelerated share repurchase agreement in April to buy $500 million shares of its common stock this year.
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal is aiming for around 5% growth in China this year, its North Asia chief executive Vincent Boinay said on Monday, pointing to encouraging signs in the market at the start of the year.
Reuters
Speaking at a conference in Shanghai, Boinay added that the target was also in line with China’s forecast for GDP growth.
“We see some encouraging signs in these early days of 2025. The numbers are getting better and the target of 5% is not only the target for Chinese growth this year but also the target of L’Oreal in China, by the way,” said Boinay.
L’Oreal, which sells Lancome skincare and Maybelline makeup, reported sales fell by low-single digits in mainland China last year. The market accounted for 17% of group sales, significantly less than 2022 levels.
CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said in February that the market was somewhat flat and had been stabilising in the first weeks of the year.
L’Oreal is facing “changing demographics, deflation, declining population and … a real challenge in consumer confidence” in China, said Boinay, but added the company remained confident in the market.
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