Luxury Goods Group LVMH Sees Profits Soar In 2003

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the largest luxury products group in the world, posted a 30 percent rise in profit for 2003 compared with a year earlier. All sectors contributed to the profit increase, with the exception of Watches & Jewelry.

Sales for 2003 slipped to €11.962 billion from €12.693 billion a year earlier. The second half of 2003 saw an acceleration of growth in sales and operating income, which, like the same period in 2002, increased by double-digits.

Among the sectors showing the strongest rises was the Fashion & Leather Goods business group that increased despite difficult circumstances, such as the weakness of the U.S. dollar and the SARS epidemic. 

The operating margin in the Fashion & Leather Goods sector rose 32 percent on the year while the rise in margin for Perfume & Cosmetics was 11 percent and Wine & Spirits rose six percent.