Shares in the Rupert family’s luxury brands conglomerate Richemont rallied strongly on Friday after key changes at executive level appeared to placate investors after a poor interim profit showing. Richemont finished more than 8% stronger on the JSE at R94.25 in vibrant trading. The company — which owns brands such as Cartier, Montblanc and Piaget — published weak interim numbers to end-September with sales dropping 13% at actual exchange rates to €5.1bn. Most markets saw a marked slowdown, although mainland China, the UK and South Korea bucked the trend. Operating profit fell 43% to €798m after once-off restructuring charges of €249m. The market, though, seemed to take heart from a shake-up of the board and from comments that the important Chinese market was showing signs of domestic growth. The board changes, which recognised that technologies would bring challenges to Richemont’s traditional business models, will see CEO Richard Lepeu and financial director Gary Saage retiring in...
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