Kering Tough Market for Luxury Watches, Jewelry

Kering reported that revenue increased by 4 percent year on year to $11.4 billion in 2014. Cost of sales raised 3.5 percent to $4.3 billion, so gross margin improved 4.2 percent to $7.2 billion. Conversely, "tougher market conditions" greatly impacted revenue from the timepiece and to a lesser extent, jewelry brands. The group's share of profit greatly improved to $603 million compared with $57 million in 2013. The group's luxury brands performed very well in 2014, except for Gucci, which experienced a sales declined of 1.8% year on year to $4 billion.