Swiss luxury goods group, Richemont announces its unaudited results for the six-month period ended 30 September 2005.
These results are presented for the first time in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS') rather than Swiss generally accepted accounting principles.
• Group sales increased by 16 per cent to 1 990 million, reflecting good growth across all markets.
• Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc and the Group's specialist watchmakers all reported double-digit sales growth in the period.
• The growth in sales, linked to a controlled increase in operating expenses, resulted in operating profit from Richemont's luxury goods businesses increasing by 68 per cent to 334 million.
Excluding the gain of 11 million realised on the sale of Hackett, operating profit increased by 62 per cent to 323 million.
• Net profit from the parent and subsidiaries increased by 133 per cent to 270 million.
• The Group's share of the post-tax profit of its associated company, British American Tobacco, excluding the impact of non-recurring items from both periods, increased by 16 per cent to 278 million.