LVMH sales fall 3% as China demand for luxury goods worsens
Fashion and leather goods division sees 5% sales decline
Chinese consumer confidence at pandemic era lows, CFO says
But says company still believes in the market's future
Adds comments from CFO in paragraphs 6 and 11, investor comment in paragraph 8
By Mimosa Spencer and Dominique Patton
PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) -French luxury giant LVMH LVMH.PA reported a 3% fall in third-quarter sales on Tuesday, undershooting estimates in its first decline in quarterly sales since the pandemic as demand in China and Japan weakened, likely exacerbating investor worries.
The world's biggest luxury group generated 19.08 billion euros ($20.8 billion) in revenue for the three months ending in September, a 3% fall on an organic basis, stripping out the effect of currencies, acquisitions and divestitures.
The figure missed a consensus estimate of 2% organic growth cited by Barclays.
The group "badly" undershot expectations, with "misses across the board," said Luca Solca, an analyst at Bernstein.
The sales report, the first of the quarter from the large luxury companies, comes after a rollercoaster for luxury stocks in recent weeks, as stimulus measures in China briefly fueled hopes of a recovery.
Chinese consumer confidence has slumped to the all-time lows of the COVID-19 era, LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said on an analyst call, though he added that the company still believed in the future of the market.
The LVMH sales, and a bigger decline at smaller Italian firm FerragamoSFER.MI, will do little to steady the market.
"LVMH being the sector proxy for many, this print will inevitably cause more short-term volatility," said Flavio Cereda, co-manager of GAM's Luxury Brands investment strategy, a fund that owns shares in luxury stocks.
FASHION, LEATHER GOODS SALES UNDERSHOOT FORECASTS
The fashion and leather goods division, home to Louis Vuitton and Dior labels, reported a sales decline of 5%, well below consensus expectations for 4% growth, and the first fall for the business since 2020.
"The fashion division saw slight improvement with Europeans and Americans but worse performance with Chinese and Japanese," Guiony said.
Fashion and leather goods comprise almost half of LVMH revenue and nearly three-quarters of its recurring profit.
In Asia - excluding Japan - of which the Chinese market is a dominant share, the sales decline worsened to a 16% slide from a 14% drop in the prior quarter.
A post-pandemic spending spree lost momentum last year, and China's property crisis has weighed on shoppers' confidence. Hopes that government stimulus measures could quickly reignite enthusiasm for high-end merchandise have yet to be fulfilled.
In Japan, LVMH said growth sharply slowed to 20% from the previous quarter's 57% jump due to a stronger yen.
The results will likely be viewed negatively by the market, said Piral Dadhania, an analyst with RBC, noting they indicated a "more pronounced slowdown than expected."
UBS has predicted that the third quarter will be the worst for the sector in four years, with a 1% decline in organic sales year-on-year.
($1 = 0.9173 euros)
Luxury stocks remain volatile on China concerns https://tmsnrt.rs/4h7WbVs
Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
