The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
Sales of Louis Vuitton handbags and the easing of lockdowns across the world helped revenue soar at luxury fashion house LVMH.
In a stellar quarter for the owner of some of the world’s best-known brands, like-for-like sales rose 84% in the three months through June, ahead of analyst expectations.
Much of the gain was fuelled by “remarkable†demand for fashion and leather goods, particularly at Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Loewe and Celine. Organic revenue in this division jumped by 120% in the second quarter from a year earlier and 40% compared with the same period in 2019.
LVMH benefited from an easy comparison with 2020 as many stores remained shut last year due to pandemic restrictions.
The company was active in the period, presenting a so-called cruise collection from Christian Dior at Athens’s monumental Panathenaic Stadium attended by celebrities such as Catherine Deneuve and “The Queen’s Gambit†star Anya Taylor-Joy. It also launched a new aperitif sparkling wine and reopened La Samaritaine, a department store located on the right bank of Paris that had been shut for more than 15 years.
Profit from recurring operations came in at 7.63 billion euros ($9.02 billion) in the first half. Analysts had expected 6.62 billion euros. The company’s selective retailing unit, which includes Sephora and DFS, operator of La Samaritaine, fared better than in previous quarters, returning to growth.