Gucci confirms worldwide recovery

ITALIAN luxury goods group Gucci confirmed the worldwide recovery in sales announced yesterday by world leader Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy.

In a remarkably bullish second-half trading statement, Gucci chairman Domenico de Sole said it was witnessing the most significant sales growth since the luxury goods sector recession began after the 11 September atrocities.

Since 1 August Gucci, which ranks second in the worldwide market, had seen sales soar by 20% in the US, 14% in Japan, 16% in Hong Kong and China, and - most surprising of all - 10% in Europe.

A well-received autumn fashion collection from British designer Stella McCartney and the launch of Fragrances Stella by McCartney and Kingdom by another Briton, Alexander McQueen, confirmed the soaring popularity of British fashion.

But the recovery came too late to rescue the first-half figures, which suffered the overhang of the Iraq war, the tourism slump and Sars.

In the half to 31 July, group sales slid 2.9% to

e1.15bn (£807m), while operating profits slumped to just

e32.5m, from e114m in the same months of last year.

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