South African billionaire Johann Rupert is $1.3 billion richer on a Cartier jewellery boom

Johann Rupert has added $1.3 billion to his fortune since March, and the money came from people buying rings.

Forbes now values South Africa's wealthiest person at $17.4 billion, against the $16.1 billion it recorded when it published its annual ranking of Africa's richest in March. The gain traces almost entirely to Compagnie Financière Richemont, the Swiss luxury group Rupert chairs and controls, whose shares have risen 19.4 percent over twelve months on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

One trading session did much of the work.

The July beat

Richemont reported first-quarter results on July 15 that analysts had not seen coming. Group sales reached €6.33 billion for the three months to June, up 20 percent at constant exchange rates and 17 percent at actual rates, against a Visible Alpha consensus of €5.90 billion.

The jewellery division carried it. Sales at Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati and Vhernier climbed 24 percent at constant rates to €4.73 billion, against analyst expectations closer to 13 percent. It was the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth across the four houses, with gains in every market and every channel.

"This set of results smashes consensus," said Luca Solca, the luxury analyst at Bernstein. Bank Vontobel called the figures flabbergasting.

The stock was indicated nearly 8 percent higher in premarket trading in Zurich. On the Johannesburg exchange it rose 7.5 percent to R3,968.90, the day's best performer.

Every region grew. Japan led at 36 percent, followed by the Americas at 27 percent, up from 18 percent the previous quarter. Asia-Pacific, which includes China, rose 21 percent against 14 percent previously, with strong demand in Hong Kong and Macau. European sales increased 11 percent to €1.42 billion, supported by local buyers alongside tourists from North America and the Middle East. Even the Middle East returned to growth at 3 percent, shrugging off the disruption caused by the Iran conflict as local customers offset a drop in tourist spending.

The watch business, which has dragged on results for two years, grew 8 percent to €873 million. Fashion and accessories rose 9 percent to €724 million.

Richemont closed the quarter with net cash of €9.1 billion, against €7.4 billion a year earlier, including €400 million from selling its stake in the travel retailer Avolta.

Why jewellery is winning

The strength is not confined to the very top of the market, which is what surprised analysts most.

Solca said Richemont is benefiting at both ends, selling one-off high jewellery pieces that retail between $40,000 and more than $1 million to the ultra-wealthy, while also capturing consumers trading down from other luxury categories.

"When spending $3,000 to $4,000, a middle-class consumer is more likely to favour jewellery over a bag, for example, because they can wear a ring, bracelet or necklace every day and it's seen as having a longer life," he said.

Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, pointed to where the money is coming from. Richemont leads the market in branded jewellery and dress watches, categories buyers turn to when they want something with intrinsic value, and he attributed the current demand to wealth created by artificial intelligence.

"Luxury buyers want products with intrinsic value and their buying is being supported by AI-enabled wealth creation," Cox said.

Reuters reported that the results showed Richemont gaining from rising equity markets and from high earners in the American technology sector, the same cohort whose paper wealth has expanded through the AI investment cycle.

Gold has moved in the same direction, trading around $4,590 an ounce, which raises Richemont's input costs while reinforcing the argument that jewellery holds value. The company implemented measured price increases during the year to absorb higher raw material costs and, to a lesser extent, additional United States duties.

Richemont's full financial year to March 31 had already set the direction. Sales rose 5 percent at actual rates to €22.42 billion, or 11 percent stripping out currency effects, with the fourth quarter accelerating to 13 percent. Combined jewellery and watch sales reached €16.5 billion, up 14 percent at constant rates, taking market share in both categories.

What Rupert actually owns

Rupert's control of Richemont does not match his economic exposure to it.

He holds roughly 10.18 percent of the company's economic interest through Compagnie Financière Rupert, the family holding company in Switzerland, alongside 51 percent of the voting rights. The structure has kept the group under family control since he founded it in 1988 out of the international assets of Rembrandt, the business his father Anton Rupert built.

Richemont is dual-listed in Zurich and Johannesburg, which means a substantial part of his wealth is marked daily on both exchanges.

His other holdings sit in South Africa and Luxembourg. Remgro, the investment company his father established, holds stakes across Mediclinic, OUTsurance, Discovery, FirstRand, RCL Foods, Vumatel and TotalEnergies, with a market capitalisation around R100 billion. Ninety One disclosed this week that its clients had acquired 5.0156 percent of it. Reinet Investments, the Luxembourg vehicle, reported net asset value of about R127.8 billion at the end of March.

The wealth trackers do not agree on the total. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index put Rupert at $19.9 billion on June 15, its highest recorded level for him, while Forbes carries $17.4 billion. The gap reflects different treatment of his private holdings and of the family structures through which he holds Richemont.

Rupert has spent much of the past year publicly cautious about the sector that is now enriching him. He told shareholders at the annual general meeting in Geneva last year that global watch demand had gone past the boom, held back by weak sales in mainland China and Hong Kong, and warned against chasing volume for its own sake.

Nicolas Bos, formerly of Van Cleef & Arpels, has run the group as chief executive since June 2024. The next annual general meeting is on Sept. 9 in Geneva, with interim results due Nov. 13.