It appears the luxury houses aren’t infallible to the global credit crunch after all. Gucci this week saw sales slide in the first quarter ending March 31 as a result of tough trading conditions. Gucci’s sales rose 2.4 percent at constant exchange rates but fell 3.3 percent in the quarter to 513 million euros. PPR on Thursday that first quarter sales rose 20 percent to 4.91 billion euros, thanks to the addition of Puma and robust sales at Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. Sales grew 4 percent after taking account of currency exchange, reflecting the impact the high value of the euro against the dollar and yen is having on European luxury firms.
The improvement wasn’t enough to offset the news about the core Gucci label, however, and PPR’s stock dropped 2.4 percent to close at 82.37 euro in trading on the Paris Bourse. (more…)