Like-for-like sales at French luxury conglomerate LVMH have increased 53 per cent to hit €28.7 billion for the first part of its financial year.

The Paris-headquartered company owns brands such as Christian Dior, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Bulgari and is currently Europe’s most valuable company by market capitalisation.

LVMH said its revenue was boosted by strong demand from customers in the US and China, its largest markets.

Sales were 11 per cent higher than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic.
LVMH’s fashion and leather goods division, which accounts for three quarters of its operating profit, was responsible for most of the sales growth.

Alcohol sales also drove growth for the group; champagne sales rose 10 per cent year-on-year.

Shares in the luxury giant have risen by more than 70 per cent since June 2020, briefly making chief executive Bernard Arnault overtake Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world.

LVMH completed its $15.8 billion acquisition of US jeweller Tiffany in January this year.

“Demand is very strong everywhere in the world, and in almost all of our categories,” said chief financial officer at LVMH Jean Jacques Guiony. “We are coming out of the crisis with remarkable levels of profitability.”

“The very strong update from the sector leader should prompt upward earnings revisions for this year and next, and set the sector on an even keel,” said Luca Solca, luxury industry analyst at analyst house Bernstein. “LVMH is seen as the bellwether of the luxury goods industry — this update should reassure.”

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