Cartier owner Richemont sales up 7% as jewellery shines
PARIS (Reuters) -Cartier owner Richemont reported a slightly better-than-expected 7% rise in quarterly sales on Friday as brisk luxury jewellery business in the United States partly offset weaker demand for watches in Asia. The Swiss-based company, which also owns jewellery brand Van Cleef & Arpels and watch label Piaget, said sales in its fourth quarter to end-March rose to 5.17 billion euros ($5.80 billion), a 7% rise in constant currencies. The jewellery division posted an 11% rise in sales over the quarter, mitigating a decline, also of 11%, from the watches division, whose Chinese sales have been hit as the country's property crisis shrank the appetite for luxury purchases.