受到COVID-19全球大流行的影响，2020年的前三个月，历峰集团旗下的各大钟表珠宝品牌销量暴跌，直接导致2019财年第四季度销售额的暴跌。在已逐步走出疫情阴霾的中国，奢侈品钟表珠宝的销量正在显著地恢复，展示了国人对奢侈品“强劲的需求”。
历峰集团在2019财年的第四季度，2020年的1月到3月，受疫情全球大流行的影响，销售额有所下滑。尽管对全年的收入数字并未造成显著的影响，但历峰集团主席约翰·鲁伯特，对接下来一年的财务预测并不乐观。
中国，作为第一个从疫情中恢复的国家，消费水平已接近恢复到平常水平，极其迅速。历峰集团旗下在中国的品牌商店正感受着这种强劲的需求。但是，由于全球其它国家和地区面对疫情的情况仍不明朗，这位来自南非的商业巨头直接宣布了因应“12，24或36个月严重的经济萧条”，将股息减半至一欧元，以增加公司的现金储备。
历峰集团主席，南非人，约翰·鲁伯特
拥有卡地亚（Cartier），万国（IWC）和沛纳海（Panerai）等品牌的瑞士奢侈品集团在第四季度之前一直保持“良好的销售业绩”，其珠宝品牌和在线零售的表现要好于其他几个部门，其中也包括了制表部门，后者已经在连续的数个季度中落后。
以实际汇率计算，年销售额增长2％，至142亿欧元。大多数地区略有增长，亚太地区录得5％的下降，净利润也下降了34％，这不包括前一年因股票重估而导致的一次性非现金收益。
导致下降的主要原因是集团在第四季度遭受了重大打击。上个季度，全球销售额下降了18％，而香港地区更是暴跌了67％。
集团全年现金结余虽略有下降，但仍达到令人羡慕的24亿欧元。存货价值微升至66.6亿欧元，相当于18个月的销售额，这一数据高于奢侈品零售商12个月的平均水平。
线上业务的增长与亏损
线上零售部门，包括了Yoox/Net-a-Portery以及二手表电商Watchfinder，在保持快速增长的同时，亏损也在不断扩大。
虽然线上销售额增长了15％，但运营亏损暴增了143％，达到2.41亿欧元，利润率也从-4.7％下降至-9.9％。这意味着线上销售现在已占历峰集团总收入的19％，而一年前为16％。
但是，平均而言，历峰集团在线上销售的每件商品都是亏损的。亏损的原因有包括技术上的投资，以及线上时装零售业的“极具竞争力的定价环境”以及Watchfinder在国际增长方面的投入，Watchfinder在去年一年内，将业务从其英国总部扩展到了法国，瑞士，德国，美国和中国香港。
也就是说，鲁伯特先生对集团的线上零售业务的潜力充满了信心，尤其是在此次疫情期间。他介绍了历峰集团和中国电子商务巨头阿里巴巴创立的合资企业，在中国开设虚拟商店的做法，成功地吸引了年轻的客户，为实体店吸引了更多人。
零售与渠道销售
延续了几个季度以来的趋势，历峰集团的零售业务仍是所有业务中最出色的。就其拥有的商店和销售渠道而言，零售业务销售额按固定汇率计算收缩了2％，这是由于第四季度末有大约43％的商店被迫暂停营业。
向第三方代理商直接供货的渠道销售业务，销售额下滑了5%，在过去的五年间，占集团总销售额的比例下降到了30%。
钟表与珠宝
由卡地亚（Cartier），梵克雅宝（Van Cleef＆Arpels）和布克切拉蒂（Buccellati）组成的历峰集团珠宝业务部门，增长率仅为2％。在珠宝品牌中，珠宝的销量要好于他们的手表。
珠宝部门的线上销量表现不错，2020年1月卡地亚官方线上旗舰店在阿里巴巴的天猫奢侈品正式开业，这也是良好线上表现的一部分。
手表部门的表现则延续了珠宝市场步履蹒跚的趋势。总体销售下降了4％，零售和渠道销售双双下降。但沛纳海（Panerai）和朗格（A. Lange＆Söhne）两个钟表品牌，因“出色的表现”而受到称赞。
翻译自新加坡钟表媒体SJX，原文如下：
Business News: Richemont Pessimistic After Weak Results
Richemont’s fourth quarter was one of the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, pulling down its results for the full year to end-March 2020. Even though the full year’s tally was not down substantially, Richemont chairman Johann Rupert was gloomy in his prediction for the coming year.
China, the first country to recover from the pandemic, has “apparently returned to ‘business as usual’ remarkably quickly” and Richemont stores there are enjoying now “strong demand”. But because everywhere else is only partway through the crisis, the plain-speaking South African tycoon raised the possibility of “12, 24 or 36 months of grave economic consequences”, while halving the annual dividend to €1 a share to conserve cash.
The Swiss luxury conglomerate, which owns brands like Cartier, IWC, and Panerai, enjoyed “good sales performance” until the fourth quarter, with its jewellery brands and online retail performing better than other divisions, including watchmaking, which has lagged for several quarters.
At actual exchange rates, annual sales eked out a 2% rise to €14.2 billion, with most regions growing slightly, save for a 5% decline in Asia Pacific. Net profit fell 34%, excluding a one-off, non-cash gain due to a share revaluation the year prior.
The declines were largely due to the fourth quarter, where Richemont took a massive hit. In the last quarter, sales fell by 18% globally, with Hong Kong crashing 67%.
The group ended the year with a slight dip in its net cash position, which is still an enviable €2.4 billion. And inventories inched up slightly to €6.66 billion, equivalent to about 18 months of sales, higher than the 12-month average for a luxury goods retailer.
Online growth and losses
The online retail division, made up of Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) and pre-owned watch merchant Watchfinder, continued to grow sales strongly while also suffering widening losses.
Online sales rose 15%, but the operating loss grew 143% to €241m, and operating margin fell from -4.7% to -9.9%. The growth means online sales are now 19% of Richemont’s overall revenue, from 16% a year before.
But, on average, Richemont makes a loss on every item sold online. The reasons for that include investments in technology, “a highly competitive pricing environment” in online fashion retail, and international growth at Watchfinder, which last year expanded from its home base of the United Kingdom to France, Switzerland, Germany, USA and Hong Kong.
That said, Mr Rupert is upbeat about the potential for the group’s online retail, particularly in the midst of the pandemic. He cited the opening of virtual stores in China, part of Richemont’s joint venture with e-commerce giant Alibaba, as successful in drawing in younger clients who then visit physical boutiques.
Retail vs wholesale
Continuing a trend that’s persistent for several quarters, Richemont’s retail business has outperformed its whole business. Referring to the stores and sales channels it owns, the retail business contracted 2% at constant exchange rates, largely due to having 43% of its stores closed at the end of the fourth quarter.
The wholesale business, which means sales to third-party retailers, suffered a 5% sales decrease. Wholesale now account for 30% of group sales, compared to about half a decade ago.
Watches and jewellery
Richemont’s jewellery division – made up of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and tiny Buccellati – grew at a modest 2%. And within the jewellery brands, jewellery sold better than watches.
The jewellery division also enjoyed strong online sales, with the Cartier “flagship store” on Alibaba’s TMall Luxury Pavilion that opened in January 2020 singled out as being a key part of the good performance.
The performance of the watch division continued the trend of faltering performance vis a vis jewellery. Overall sales fell 4%, with retail and wholesale sales both falling. Panerai and A. Lange & Söhne, however, were praised for “notable performance”.
(END)
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