Strong sales posted by French luxury, retail group PPR

French luxury and retail group PPR last Thursday said first-half net profit was up 5.9 per cent from a year earlier to €477 million on solid growth in its luxury business. The company said sales were up in the January-to-June period by 17 per cent from...

French luxury and retail group PPR last Thursday said first-half net profit was up 5.9 per cent from a year earlier to €477 million on solid growth in its luxury business.

The company said sales were up in the January-to-June period by 17 per cent from a year before at €6.39 billion.

The numbers were higher than the 5.1 per cent increase in net profit and 15 per cent increase in sales forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The company said sales of luxury goods, which include fashion brands like Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and jeweller Boucheron, were up 30.7 per cent to €2.9 billion.

But sales in the sports and lifestyle division dropped 9.2 per cent, dragged down by the poor performance of Puma.

“PPR’s performance is very satisfactory, and even excellent in luxury,” group finance director Jean-Marc Duplaix said in a conference call.

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