PARIS: French luxury giant Kering said Tuesday it is anticipating a 10-percent drop in year-on-year sales in the first quarter due to a decline in the performance of its flagship brand, handbag-maker Gucci.

“This performance primarily reflects a steeper sales drop at Gucci, notably in the Asia-Pacific region. Gucci comparable revenues in the first quarter are expected to be down by nearly 20 percent year on year,” the luxury group said in a statement.

Kering, whose other brands include Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, will publish its first quarter sales on April 23 after the stock exchange closes.

Gucci owner Kering says profit fell 17% in 2023

In February, Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault vowed to press on with a strategy to put Gucci “back on track” after Kering announced a 17-percent fall in net profits in 2023.

However, Pinault warned that it “won’t happen overnight.”

At Gucci, a brand famous for its leather handbags that account for half of Kering’s revenue, sales dropped six percent to 9.9 billion euros in 2023.

Kering changed Gucci’s top management last year, appointing deputy CEO and Pinault confidant Jean-Francois Palus to replace Marco Bizzarri, who had led the brand since 2015.

Sabato de Sarno succeeded Alessandro Michele as the brand’s creative director in January 2023 and the first items of his ‘Ancora’ collection were made available in select stores in mid-February.

Louis Vuitton, Gucci to open at Mukesh Ambani’s Jio World Plaza in Mumbai

The collection has been met with a “highly favourable reception,” Kering’s statement said.