Cartier owner Richemont beats expectations as jewellery shines
PARIS (Reuters) -Cartier owner Richemont beat expectations on Friday with a 7% rise in quarterly sales as wealthy shoppers continued to splash out on jewellery, helping the group outperform rivals in the luxury downturn. Richemont, which also owns jewellery brand Van Cleef & Arpels and watchmaker Piaget, said its jewellery sales jumped 11% in its fourth quarter to the end of March, from a year earlier. Swiss-based Richemont's total sales for the quarter amounted to 5.17 billion euros ($5.80 billion), a 7% rise in constant currencies, beating a 6% rise forecast in a Visible Alpha consensus cited by HSBC.