Luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Europe’s largest company by market value, said Tuesday that its net profit fell 17 percent last year to 12.55 billion euros ($13 billion) as sales slipped two percent to 84.7 billion euros.
The company, best known for Louis Vuitton handbags, Dior fashion, Moet & Chandon champagne and Tiffany jewellery, blamed the slowdown partly on the end of the post-Covid boom.
“We had three years of euphoria in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and a year of consolidation in 2024,” the group’s financial director Jean-Jacques Guiony told journalists. “You have to accept this year for what it is.”
Guiony nonetheless pointed to “a slight improvement in the United States and Europe at the end of the year”.
Sales in the fourth quarter were little changed at 23.9 billion euros.
“In 2024, amid an uncertain environment, LVMH showed strong resilience,” chief executive Bernard Arnault said in a statement.
“While remaining highly vigilant with regard to cost management and our single-minded focus on the desirability of our designs, we enter 2025 with confidence.”
Annual sales in the leather and fashion unit, which also includes Celine and Fendi, fell three percent to 41 billion euros.
Retailing, which includes international cosmetics chain Sephora and Paris department store Bon Marche, grew two percent to 18.3 billion euros.
Revenue from watches and jewelry slipped three percent to 10.6 billion euros while wines and spirits dropped 11 percent to 5.9 billion euros.
The company will pay a dividend of 13 euros a share.
