The firm Christie's, founded in 1766, belongs to the French businessman Francois Pinault. It organizes more than 600 sales per year worldwide. In the vulgar, its turnover fell by 19%, reaching 5.1 billion dollars (3.7 billion euros) due to the reduction in the number of buyers in the context of the global economic crisis.
According to Jussi Pikkanena, this lowering of traffic may continue and this year, is expected to turnover in 2009 will be the level of 2005-2006., That is about 3,3-4,6 billion (2,4-3, 3 billion euros).
The current economic context leads to the fact that market prices are falling, so the owners of art poizvedeny prefer not to put them on sale. Besides, now almost impossible to put good money that they would be rescued from the sale. Mr. Pikkanen added that the volume of works on display at the auction, declined by 40%compared to the same period last year.
However, he stressed that at the auction, held since the beginning of the year, noticeably clear signs that sellers would soon return to the market, as it showed the May auctions in Hong Kong.
"A high percentage of lots sold - currently 80-85%- the current situation differs radically from previous crises, when the number of sold lots did not exceed 40-45%" - emphasized Mr. Pikkanen.
He deduces from this that the current recession is likely to be for the art market "a shorter time and less severe" than previous ones.
"I think 2010 is pretty quiet - I do not expect strong economic growth - but we are quite confident that the further lowering of prices, even minor, will be no more" - added Jussi Pikkanen.
He also stressed that just as in the past year, interim results from Christie's, which should be published very soon, will be positive. He declined to comment on the information that appeared in the press in January this year that the company intends to reduce to a quarter of its staff in London, whose number currently stands at 800.
He explained that the company reduced its staff in some sectors, and that it rarely refers to external consultants, and uses less staff on temporary contracts.
Mr. Pikkanen added that his company continues to invest in the markets of the Middle East, Asia and Russia, and that it is reaping the results of development activities such as consulting services for buyers and sellers, online auctions and private sales organization. In contrast to the global turnover, the turnover of these forms of activity in the past year has grown.