Daily Times

Swiss watch group Swatch saw its first half profits plunge due to the luxury market crisis in China and warned Monday the key market was likely to remain difficult throughout the rest of the year.

Profits tumbled 70.5 percent to 147 million Swiss francs ($164 million) on a 14 percent drop in sales to 3.4 billion francs. Known for its brightly coloured plastic watches, Swatch also owns a number of luxury brands including Longines, Omega and Tissot, and said it was a drop in demand for upscale products that hurt its performance. The decline in sales was “triggered by the sharp drop in demand for luxury goods in China” including Hong Kong and Macau, said the company.

Analysts surveyed by Swiss financial news agency AWP had expected a much higher net profit of 354 million francs. Swatch shares were down 9.3 percent approaching midday while the Swiss SMI index was up 0.4 percent. “Swatch Group is most exposed to Chinese middle-class consumers, who are clearly on the back foot,” Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said in a note to clients. The deepening economic malaise in the world’s second-largest economy is being keenly felt by luxury firms, with Burberry ditching its chief executive on Monday after posting “disappointing” results mainly due to weak performance in China. Swatch explained the poor performance by its decision to renounce layoffs and maintain its production capacity to be able to respond to a rebound in the market.