Shares in French luxury-goods conglomerate Kering traded sharply lower on Friday despite a strong rise in headline revenue after sales at its main brand Gucci fell short of expectations amid Covid-19 lockdowns in China.
Kering KER, -3.53% on Thursday reported first-quarter revenue of 4.96 billion euros ($5.38 billion), up 21% on a comparable basis from the previous-year period. Analysts had expected revenue of EUR4.74 billion, according to FactSet.
Revenue at its flagship Gucci brand rose 13%. The performance fell short of consensus expectations of an 18% increase, Stifel analyst Rogerio Fujimori said in a note.
At 0722 GMT, shares in Kering were down 5.7% at EUR521.50.
As with the overall group, Gucci’s sales growth was strong among local consumers in North America and Western Europe but took a hit from new pandemic-related measures in mainland China notably, Kering said.
Among the group’s other brands, Yves Saint Laurent was the stand-out performer, with a 37% increase.
Secondary brands helped Kering beat expectations at group level, but while Kering gradually becomes less dependent on Gucci, investor and market focus will remain on the performance of the leading brand, Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said in a note.
