Kering collaborating with Gucci tax probe in Italy, chairman says

French luxury group Kering continued to collaborate with an Italian tax investigation into its Gucci brand, Chairman Francois-Henri Pinault told shareholders on Thursday, adding the company had not been notified of the sums under scrutiny.

"The governance that we have put in place aims to make us totally compliant with fiscal regulations in every country in which we operate," Pinault said at Kering's annual shareholder meeting.

Asked how much the group could be liable for as part of the Italian probe, Pinault said that neither Gucci nor Kering had been notified by Italian authorities of what slice of revenues were being examined for irregularities.

"I feel very confident about the compliance of our operations," Pinault said.

Pinault also reiterated that Kering was compliant with its tax obligations in Switzerland and said its activities there were known to relevant authorities, following newspaper reports that the firm had used a Swiss-based scheme to evade tax.