Gucci sales stumble
Gucci reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales, turning its Florence investor day into a test of leadership and recovery plans. Investors punished the group: Kering shares fell as much as 10% after the results, and executives in Florence are set to focus on product clarity and image coherence as part of the turnaround effort. (reuters.com) (fashionunited.uk)
Gucci’s sales fell again in the first quarter, extending the brand’s slump just as Kering gathered investors in Florence to defend its recovery plan. (usnews.com) Kering said Gucci’s first-quarter revenue fell 14.3 percent to 1.35 billion euros, or 8 percent on an organic basis, while group revenue slipped 6.2 percent to 3.57 billion euros and was flat on an organic basis. (kering.com) (wwd.com) Investors erased billions from Kering’s market value on April 15, sending the shares down as much as 10 percent and closing them 9.3 percent lower at 254 euros in Paris. (usnews.com) (wwd.com) The drop marked Gucci’s 11th straight quarterly decline, a stretch that has turned the label from Kering’s main profit engine into the group’s biggest problem. Reuters reported that the Iran war hit spending by Middle Eastern shoppers and disrupted international travel, adding pressure to an already weak sales base. (usnews.com) Kering is trying to show that the slide is slowing, not accelerating. In its April 14 statement, the company said Gucci “remains our top priority” and said it had reset product architecture, tightened category focus, and started rolling out new collections through 2026. (kering.com) The Florence event matters because it is Luca de Meo’s first Capital Markets Day as Kering chief executive, and the company used it to present a new strategic plan under the label “ReconKering.” Kering’s finance page said the April 16 meeting would lay out the group’s roadmap from Florence. (kering.com) Gucci is also in the middle of a design reset. The house said on February 6, 2025 that it had ended its collaboration with Sabato De Sarno, and Kering said on March 13, 2025 that Demna would take over as artistic director starting in early July 2025. (kering.com 1) (kering.com 2) That creative transition followed a brutal 2025 for the brand. Kering said Gucci’s full-year 2025 revenue fell to 6 billion euros, down 22 percent as reported and 19 percent on a comparable basis. (kering.com) Kering said other labels helped steady the group in early 2026, with Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Brioni posting year-on-year growth and jewelry making a particularly strong contribution. Gucci’s numbers, though, are still the ones investors are trading on. (kering.com) (wwd.com) The immediate test in Florence is whether Kering can persuade investors that Gucci’s recovery has a timetable, not just a theme. Wednesday’s selloff showed how little patience the market has left. (usnews.com)
