Share prices of Richemont and Swatch Group rose this week after the first quarterly increase in sales for Richemont for a year gave investors hope that the worst may be over.
The timely announcement of a return to growth for Richemont, whose maisons present their 2017 collections at SIHH next week, triggered
Shares in Richemont were trading at CHF66 as recently as January 5, but surged 14% to CHF77 today, a price last seen in November 2015.
Swatch shares rose to CHF350 today, a level last seen a year ago.
“The worst is probably over for Richemont and Swatch, and for the Swiss watch industry with a lag,” Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank, told Bloomberg. “The likelihood that the Swiss watch industry will see growth in exports in the course of 2017 has increased. It’s reassuring that sales gained traction in the most important quarter of the year.”
