"Excellent" first half for luxury conglomerate LVMH

Shares in LVMH rose by almost 2% today as the Paris-based luxury conglomerate reported an "excellent" first half of trading with revenues up 10% €21.8bn. 

In the second quarter, revenue increased by 11% compared to the same period of 2017, a performance which the group said was in line with the trends of the beginning of the year.

Profit from recurring operations was up 28% at €4,648m while operating margin reached 21.4%, an increase of 2.9 percentage points.

Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said the group's performance was down to "the strong desirability of our brands and the effectiveness of our strategy" and added that the results were even more impressive given the "unfavourable currency environment".

Flagship brand Louis Vuitton was said to have achieved "outstanding momentum" in the first half with profits at "an exceptional level" while Christian Dior had achieved success with its new product lines.

Overall fashion and leathergoods sales were up 25% (15% on an organic basis) to €6,899m in the division which includes Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Kenzo, Céline and Marc Jacobs among others.

The group has been shaking up its talent pool of late shifting Kim Jones from his role as artistic director of menswear to the same role at Dior Homme (replacing Kris van Assche who was moved to Berluti). Off-White's Virgil Abloh replaced Jones at Louis Vuitton and both men recently showed their first collections at Paris Men's Fashion Week, receiving a positive response from press and buyers.

All eyes are now on Céline where former Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane has been installed and given free reign over all creative direction and been charged with introducing both couture and menswear to the house. His first collection will be shown in Paris in September.