Richemont Group said sales growth in Asia Pacific in the first five months of the year slowed to four per cent from 12 per cent last year.

The group, which owns Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin, said prudent consumer sentiment reflected in slower sales in mainland China, but this was offset by good growth in Hong Kong, Macau and Japan.

The crackdown on gift giving is also believed to have affected the group’s performance in China.

Global sales for the period to August grew nine per cent, falling below the 13 per cent growth last year and the estimated growth of 10 per cent.

It says retail sales growth continues to outperform wholesale sales on the back of the good performance of its existing boutiques as well as newly opened ones.