Gucci Group expects to outgrow competitors

Gucci Group, according to Reuters, expects it can outpace the growth of its rivals and the luxury sector. When asked by the French publication Les Echos if Gucci was looking at fashion groups like Italy 's Armani, Chief Executive Robert Polet replied: "I prefer to focus on what I master. There's enough we can do with our current portfolio to continue to grow faster than our competitors and the market."

The future of luxury was "assured", he added, referring to sustained growth in China -- where Gucci aims open four Gucci shops between now and the end of 2007 -- India , Russia , the United States . Asia represents almost 60 percent of Gucci's investments. Polet did not exclude moving production of some of the group's labels to countries where labour is cheaper than in Europe . "We don't have any dogmas," he said, not specifying which labels.