ASIAN PAIN

Richemont profits fell by nearly a fifth due to weaker trading in Asia and property write-downs.

The owner of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels said sales had fallen 1pc, with strong performance in Europe, the Middle East, the US and Japan offset by falling demand in the Asia Pacific region.

The firm blamed asset write-downs of £74.8m this year, and said last year numbers had been lifted by the sale of property, bringing in a one-off £1.7bn.