The Gucci store on Fifth Avenue in New York City on March 20, 2024.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Shares in Kering, which owns Gucci, fell on Thursday after the luxury group reported a sharp drop in sales in the first half of the year and gave a weak outlook for the remaining six months of the year.
Kering shares fell as much as 9% as soon as the market opened, trading at their lowest level since August 2017. It pared some of its losses and was down 6.47% at 8:30 a.m. London time.
The luxury group said late Wednesday that sales for the first half of 2024 were down 11% compared with the same period a year earlier. The decline was due to “slower markets in most regions except Japan,” the company said in a statement.
“There has been a significant slowdown in China, and trends have not improved much in North America and Europe,” Kering added.
The luxury brand also said it expects its regular operating profit to plunge as much as 30% year-on-year in the second half of 2024, citing “uncertainty weighing on the changing demand from luxury consumers.”
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