PARIS (Reuters) - French luxury group Kering's (PA:PRTP) flagship Gucci brand posted a lower-than-expected rise in first-quarter sales on Thursday.
Gucci posted 3.1 percent growth in comparable sales, below analysts' expectations of 5 to 6 percent and slowing from 4.8 percent growth in the last quarter of 2015.
Kering's second luxury brand Bottega Veneta posted an 8.3 percent drop in comparable sales, suffering from its strong exposure to Asian clientele.
The luxury goods industry has had a difficult start to the year, partly due to the Chinese economic slowdown and a sharp drop in tourist traffic in shopping hotspots such as Paris, Milan and Hong Kong and Macau.