Sales at Richemont UK and its subsidiary brands including Cartier rose by 12% in its latest financial year to £306 million.
Cartier’s UK sales rose by 19% to £163 million; over half of Richemont UK’s turnover.
The data covers the year ending March 31, 2018, and all turnover figures are are a mixture of wholesale prices or direct to consumer sales via Richemont-owned stores.
Operating profit at Richemont UK Limited increased from £9.4 million to £11.5 million.
Operating profit at Cartier UK Limited was flat on the prior year at £15.5 million.
Investment bank RBC Capital Markets estimates that Cartier’s world-wide watch business accounts for around 35% of sales, with jewellery and accessories adding up to the remaining 65%.
If that breakdown is the same in the UK — Richemont does not provide this level of detail in its annual accounts — Cartier watch sales in the UK would be worth £57 million.
To put that in context, Patek Philippe sales in the UK were £142 million in the year ending January 2017. Breitling’s UK sales totalled £42 million in 2016.
Richemont UK Limited, alone, saw sales rise 30% in 2017-18 to £142.6 million. The figure includes Montblanc UK sales for the first time. Montblanc had sales of £26 million in 2016-17. This suggests that all other Richemont brands, including Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Baume & Mercier and Vacheron Constantin, saw an increase in sales of around £10 million (wholesale) in the UK last year.
The contribution of UK sales to Richemont’s global turnover rose from 2% of the worldwide total in 2016-17 to 3% in the year ending in March this year.
That is still half what might be expected given that the UK represents 6% of global exports of all Swiss watchmakers, according to Federation of Swiss Watch Industry figures for 2017.