It has been an unfortunate day for the European megacaps, with global luxury giant LVMH sliding nearly 5% in response to a wholly underwhelming nine-month trading update.
Sales across LVMH’s wines and spirits segment fell 11%, while its largest segment, fashion and leather goods, fell 3%.
Only perfumes and cosmetics, and ‘selective retailing’ managed to increase their sales, but this was not enough to stem a group-wide 2% fall in total revenues.
Champagne was down, “reflecting the ongoing normalisation of post-Covid demand, but remained significantly higher than in 2019”, said LVMH, while Hennessy cognac sales were hit by weak Chinese demand.
The decline in LVMH’s high-end fashion offerings reflects a broader trend of cautious global luxury spending.
LVMH shares are now down more than 17% year to date, though it remains European second-largest company by market capitalisation following the recent rout in ASML shares.
ASML, the Dutch semiconductor machinery titan, has shed around $50 billion in value in just two days following an exceptionally cautious third-quarter trading update.