Luxury Giant LVMH hits 400 Billion Euro in Market Value

The logo of French fashion house Dior is seen on shopping bags at the 30 Montaigne, the original site of Christian Dior's first store, ahead of its reopening in Paris, France, March 2, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of French fashion house Dior is seen on shopping bags at the 30 Montaigne, the original site of Christian Dior's first store, ahead of its reopening in Paris, France, March 2, 2022. (Reuters)
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Luxury Giant LVMH hits 400 Billion Euro in Market Value

The logo of French fashion house Dior is seen on shopping bags at the 30 Montaigne, the original site of Christian Dior's first store, ahead of its reopening in Paris, France, March 2, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of French fashion house Dior is seen on shopping bags at the 30 Montaigne, the original site of Christian Dior's first store, ahead of its reopening in Paris, France, March 2, 2022. (Reuters)

LVMH shares rose to a fresh record high on Tuesday, giving the luxury goods group a market capitalization of 400 billion euros ($434 billion) for the first time and cementing its lead as Europe's most valuable company.

Like other luxury companies which are heavily exposed to China, LVMH has benefited this year from the fast reopening of the world's second biggest economy. However, some analysts said further gains in the share price could become harder to achieve.

"Let's say I'm waiting for 500 billion to mark it down as a milestone," said Angelo Meda, head of equities and portfolio manager at Banor SIM in Milan.

"They are firing their last cartridge which is the Chinese reopening, going forward things will get tougher: tough comparisons, dollar going down," he added.

The shares rose as much as 0.4% to a lifetime high of 795.7 euros, which gave the group a market value slightly above 400 billion euros, according to Reuters calculations based on Refintiv data. They had reversed course to stand 0.5% lower by 0846 GMT.

Earlier this month, LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault reshuffled top management at the group, tightening his family's grip with the appointment of his daughter Delphine to lead Christian Dior, and naming a new boss for Louis Vuitton.



H&M First-quarter Sales Weaker Than Expected

A woman is reflected next to the logo of the H&M fashion retailer in the Mall of Berlin shopping center in Berlin, Germany, in this September 25, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
A woman is reflected next to the logo of the H&M fashion retailer in the Mall of Berlin shopping center in Berlin, Germany, in this September 25, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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H&M First-quarter Sales Weaker Than Expected

A woman is reflected next to the logo of the H&M fashion retailer in the Mall of Berlin shopping center in Berlin, Germany, in this September 25, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
A woman is reflected next to the logo of the H&M fashion retailer in the Mall of Berlin shopping center in Berlin, Germany, in this September 25, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M reported weaker than expected sales for its first quarter on Thursday and said sales were up 1% so far in March, in a sign of a slow start to its spring and summer season.
H&M reported sales of 55.3 billion Swedish crowns ($5.52 billion) for the December to February quarter, missing analysts' mean estimate of 55.9 billion Swedish crowns, Reuters said.
"Our sales and earnings in the quarter were somewhat weaker than planned – but the first quarter is the smallest quarter of the year for us in terms of sales and margin, and we are confident going forward," CEO Daniel Erver said in a statement.
Increased discounting and marketing investments impacted H&M's profitability in the quarter, the company said, with the operating profit margin falling to 2.2% from 3.9% in the same period a year ago.
Erver, leading H&M for just over a year, is trying to turn its fortunes around and has ramped up marketing, spending on pop stars like Charli XCX to model its collections as he tries to make the brand more desirable and better compete against Zara and Shein.