The group's star brand saw revenues drop 6 percent at constant exchange rates, as the newness of Demna's first collections wore off.

PARIS — Kering’s growth engine stalled in the third quarter as its star brand Gucci struggled to maintain its speed amid a sector-wide slump in demand in China.

The French group, which also owns Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Boucheron and others, said revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30 remained flat at reported exchange rates, totaling 3.35 billion euros.

This represented a decrease of 1 percent in comparable terms, above a consensus forecast for a 1.3 percent organic sales drop.

But Gucci, the group’s star brand and main profit engine, missed expectations, posting a 6 percent decrease in sales at constant exchange rates, worse than the 5.4 percent fall expected by analysts.

This followed a comparatively smaller 2 percent decline for Gucci in the second quarter, when the group showed progress in its ongoing turnaround journey by posting its first comparable sales increase in three years.

Kering chief executive officer Luca de Meo warned at the time that the recovery would not be linear, noting the third quarter could be flat due to more unfavorable comparisons with 2025.

“Third-quarter revenue reflects the phasing we anticipated, in a softer macroeconomic environment,” de Meo said in a statement released after the market close Thursday.

“The recovery of Gucci remains our defining priority. We are steadily strengthening desirability and advancing our product development at pace,” he said.

“The transformation of Kering is a multiseason undertaking, but the improvements we are seeing across the group, notably in desirability and key operating indicators, reinforce our confidence in the direction we have set and the determination of our teams to deliver it,” de Meo added.

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