Luxury eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica on Thursday reported a rise in fourth-quarter revenues, citing sound growth amid a challenging environment, but its performance in China declined because of Covid-19 restrictions.

The maker of Oakley and Ray-Ban sunglasses posted a 9.4 percent rise in revenues to €6.11 billion ($6.49 billion) in the final quarter of the year at current exchange rates.

The French-Italian eyewear group said Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was its best performing region in the quarter due to solid sales growth in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Scandinavia.

Sales in the region grew 6.2 percent at constant exchange rates to €2.09 billion.

However, the Asia-Pacific region grew by only 3.1 percent to €731 million as performance crumbled during the quarter when China was hit by a severe Covid-19 wave, the group said in a statement.

Luxury peer Hermès on the other hand said last week that wealthy Chinese clients snapped up its products in the fourth quarter, helping it beat sales and margin forecasts.

The likes of French luxury giant and Louis Vuitton-owner LVMH, and Swiss jewellery company Richemont, have also benefited from the resilience of their wealthy customers against the cost-of-living crisis.

EssilorLuxottica proposed raising its dividend to €3.23 per share, up 29 percent on last year.

By Jagoda Darlak; Editors: Shri Navaratnam and Sonali Paul

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EssilorLuxottica Improves Margin in Challenging Market

The maker of Oakley and Ray-Ban sunglasses said its adjusted operating margin rose by 100 basis points to 18.4 percent in the six months to June 30.