Kering’s third-quarter sales fell 16 percent on a comparable basis to €3.78 billion ($4.08 billion) as a market-wide slowdown pounded the French group. Gucci, Saint Laurent and its Other Houses unit housing Balenciaga and McQueen all posted double-digit declines, while Bottega Veneta and eyewear both delivered mid-single-digit growth.
The biggest challenge for Kering continues to be Gucci, its biggest and most profitable brand, which is struggling to revive demand after years of stagnant sales became a sharp downturn this year. Efforts to revamp its creative and corporate structures around new leadership following the 2023 ouster of creative director Alessandro Michele and CEO Marco Bizzarri have continued to falter: sales fell 25 percent year-on-year, decelerating sequentially from a 20 percent drop in the first half.
Saint Laurent, long the group’s second-biggest business and previously a long-running success story, is also cooling off, with sales falling 12 percent on a comparable basis.While expectations were already low for the group’s two top units, a deeper-than-expected decline at Other Houses will hardly please investors. The segment comprising McQueen, Balenciaga and Boucheron reported sales down by 14 percent; UBS analysts had only forecast a 5 percent drop.
The group forecast full-year operating profits would drop more than 45 percent to €2.5 billion.
Stay tuned to BoF for updates on this developing story.
