By Mimosa Spencer
PARIS (Reuters) -Cartier owner Richemont on Friday reported a slightly better-than-expected 7% rise in quarterly sales as weaker demand in Asia was offset by brisk business in the United States where wealthy shoppers shrugged off economic uncertainty and continued to splash out on luxury jewellery.
The Swiss-based company, which also owns jewellery brand Van Cleef & Arpels and watch label Piaget, said sales in its fourth quarter to end-March rose to 5.17 billion euros ($5.80 billion), a 7% rise in constant currencies.
That is slightly more than the 6% expected, according to a Visible Alpha consensus cited by HSBC and slightly slower than the 10% growth rate in the third quarter.
The jewellery division posted an 11% rise in sales over the quarter, helping to offset an 11% decline from the watches division, which is suffering from a slump in demand in China, where a property crisis has weighed on appetite for luxury purchases like timepieces.
Luxury groups started the year with hopes that robust demand in the United States would help lift the sector out of its biggest slump in years, but from mid-February, signs of a weakening U.S. economy began to creep in and sweeping tariff announcements in April brought more uncertainty.
($1 = 0.8921 euros)
(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer, Editing by Friederike Heine)
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