Richemont hit by R300m jewellery heist, says report

Richemont, which owns the Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels brands, was  hit on Friday by a warehouse robbery in which jewellery and watches with a reported retail value of R300m were stolen.

Men armed with pistols overpowered guards at the Rivonia, Johannesburg, warehouse, the Sunday Time reported. According to the newspaper’s sources, private investigators are trying  to establish how security cameras were disabled during the incident.

Police spokesperson Capt Marvin Masondo said on Sunday that no arrests have been made, and a case of business robbery has been opened.

Richemont’s head office in Switzerland had not commented by the time of publication.

The R300m worth of stolen jewellery would represent about 0.1% of the almost €14bn (R238bn) in sales reported for  the group’s financial year to end-March. According to the group, sales of its Middle East and Africa operations represented only 6.6% of total group sales for the same period.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za