WRAPUP 1-Richemont and LVMH see tough times ahead

    ZURICH/PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - Spending on high quality products like watches and fine wines has yet to pick up much and could remain depressed until at least September, two of the world's biggest luxury goods groups said on Thursday.

    LVMH, which owns Dom Perignon champagne, said it had seen some recovery in sales at its wines and spirits unit, particularly for Cognac, but April revenues overall were still broadly in line with the first quarter when it saw a drop in like-for-like sales of 7 percent. [nLM938857]

    Richemont, the world's third largest luxury group in terms of market value behind LVMH and Hermes (HRMS.PA), said sales had tumbled 26 percent in April after adjusting for exchange rate changes, and warned trading would remain tough.

    "Trading conditions through to September 2009 will be very challenging indeed," Richemont said in a statement after posting a forecast-beating full-year operating profit, helped by resilient fine jewellery sales.

    Consumers have put the brakes on spending for top name brands as the financial crisis has deepened, investment portfolios shrink and concern grows over mounting job losses.

    "There are currently very few encouraging signs in the global economic picture," said Richemont, the group behind jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels as well as high-end watch brands Vacheron Constantin and Jaeger Le-Coultre.

    Richemont's results came after jeweller Bulgari (BULG.MI) posted its first quarterly loss in 10 years on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, luxury shoe and bag maker Tod's (TOD.MI) on Wednesday said orders for its winter collections were "good" in spite of the grim markets. It posted a 4.9 percent rise in first-quarter sales at constant exchange rates.

    PPR (PRTP.PA), owner of luxury group Gucci, last week pledged to continue focusing on cutting costs and generating cash and said it had made progress on shop closures.

    By 1405 GMT, shares in Richemont had risen some 4 percent to 21.54 Swiss francs, easily outperforming a 0.1 percent drop in LVMH shares and a flat DJ personal and household goods index .SXQP.

    PPR shares were up 1.3 percent at 55.27 euros.

    Richemont, which is controlled by South Africa's Rupert family, trades at 13.49 times expected 2010 earnings, at a slight discount to LVMH at 14.09 times, according to Thomson Reuters data.