Richemont Seeks Investors For Yoox Company As Jewelry Sales Shine, Retail News, ET Retail

ZURICH: Richemont is in advanced talks with online retailer Farfetch, the luxury goods group said on Friday, as it seeks to turn its loss-making Yoox-Net-a-Porter (YNAP) business into an industrial platform neutral and appease critical investors.

Discussions include Farfetch investing directly in online fashion retailer YNAP as a minority shareholder, with others invited to help create an industry-wide neutral platform, the said. Cartier owner in a statement.

This operation should satisfy the activist investors who would have entered the capital of the group. Longtime shareholder Artisan Partners told Reuters this week Richemont needed to tackle YNAP’s weak performance.

“An early Christmas present for Richemont shareholders,†said Jon Cox, analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, referring to a “big set of numbers†and investors who have been pushing for change at YNAP for some time.

Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said the separation of YNAP from Richemont would create significant shareholder value and applauded the strong performance of jewelry and the improved watch business of Richemont.

Richemont announced a jump in its net profit to 1.249 billion euros ($ 1.43 billion) in the first half of its 2021/2022 fiscal year, beating the forecast of 1.151 billion euros in a Refinitiv poll, but remained careful for the months to come.

“For the second half of the year, volatility is expected to persist, including in terms of inflation and geopolitical tensions. The Group will also face difficult benchmarks,” said the group, also known for IWC watches, in a statement.

Richemont said sales rose 65% at constant exchange rates, helped by a very low comparison basis. In published data, they are up 63% to 8.907 billion euros, also ahead of a forecast of 8.536 billion euros.

French luxury goods group LVMH said last month that like-for-like sales rose 20% in the third quarter, while Kering reported a 12.2% increase. Both have reported a slowdown in Asia due to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.