Fashion sales slow down at LVMH

LVMH posted its Q3 revenues this week, but despite a weak euro sales of fashion saw its weakest growth this year.

Despite a 16 percent rise in Q3 revenues to 8.58 billion euros, sales of fashion slowed to just 3 percent in Q3, down from 10 percent in Q2 and 5 percent in H1.

The slowdown was broadly anticipated by investors and analysts but even they underestimated its extent with predictions of at least a 6 percent rise in the fashion division. LVMH shares were down 3.5 percent in early Tuesday trade.

The Louis Vuitton brand is by far the stellar performer in the LVMH fashion and accessories portfolio and is “continuing its growth and displaying strong creative momentum in all of its collections.” The luxury giant noted that leathergoods in particular “saw great success with the creativity around Monogram and the craftsmanship on leather”.

But there was little detailed news regarding its portfolio of other fashion brands with Céline, Givenchy and Kenzo “experiencing sustained revenue growth” while Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan continued “the repositioning of their collections”.