Two rooms, two moods. Eight days after attending the pompous inauguration ceremony of US President Donald Trump with his family, Bernard Arnault presented LVMH's annual results to an audience of financial analysts, seated in the auditorium of the luxury group's headquarters on Avenue Montaigne in Paris on Tuesday, January 28.

With the global luxury goods market expected to shrink by 2% in 2024, according to Bain & Company, all eyes were on Arnault for an analysis of the global economic situation and, also, for the announcement of measures to revive his fashion brands, which generate 75% of his operating income. In particular, the fate of Dior and Tiffany&Co was in question. Financial analysts were left partly disappointed.

"For once, I'm not going to announce record results," the CEO of the world's leading luxury goods group, owner of Louis Vuitton, began. LVMH's net profit fell by 17% to €12.6 billion in the fiscal year of 2024, on sales of €84.7 billion, down 2% on 2023. Its operating margin devolved to 23.1% versus 26.5% in 2023.

The group was affected by the economic slowdown in Asia, particularly in China, where business "remained difficult throughout the year," stressed Jean-Jacques Guiony, its CFO. LVMH, for whom 25% of worldwide sales come from this region, recorded an 11% drop in activity there.

You have 68.35% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.