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Results round-up: How did luxury brands perform in the Golden Quarter?

Chloe Burney
30 January 2025

A raft of luxury brands, including LVMH and Burberry, have recently released their trading updates for Christmas and the all-important golden quarter.

The figures shed light on how consumer spending held up this Christmas, with some signs of resilience, despite weakened demand for luxury goods, especially overseas in Asia.

As businesses prepare to weather the storm of soaring costs linked to the Autumn Budget, TheIndustry.fashion takes a look at who the festive success stories are so far, and which luxury retailers have appeared more downbeat.

LVMH

LVMH, which boasts a portfolio of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, has reported revenue of £71 billion (€84.7 billion) in 2024, beating its previous expectations of £70.7 billion (€84.28 billion).

Despite a "challenging economic and geopolitical environment", LVMH reported continued growth (up by 1% on an organic basis) thanks to demand in Europe and the US as well as its leather goods category.

During 2024, profit equalled £16.4 billion (€19.6 billion), equating to an operating margin of 23.1%, "significantly exceeding pre-Covid levels". However, exchange rate fluctuations had a substantial negative impact during the year, particularly on Fashion & Leather Goods and Wines & Spirits. The group's net profit totalled £10.5 billion (€12.6 billion).

Looking ahead, LVMH said it "remains confident and will pursue its brand development-focused strategy". It added that the group is on a "quest for desirability and quality in its products and their highly selective distribution".

Read the full article here.

Burberry

Burberry

Burberry is one of the first luxury brands to publish its financial results for the Christmas trading period. The luxury fashion brand reported a dip in sales as it said it was moving with "urgency" to turn the business around and return to profit.

The fashion house, founded in England in 1856, launched a £40 million cost-cutting programme in November after sinking into a loss. Burberry said the turnaround plan was already starting to pay off.

It nevertheless reported revenues of £659 million for the 13 weeks to 28 December, down 7% from the £706 million generated over the same period a year prior.

Burberry said it was steaming ahead with its plan to turn around the business, which was launched in November after reporting a £53 million loss for the first half of its financial year.

It is now expecting its results over the second half of the financial year to "broadly offset" the loss recorded over the first half, "notwithstanding the uncertain macroeconomic environment".

Read the full article here.

Brunello Cucinelli

Brunello Cucinelli

Italian fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli reported revenues of £1.07 billion (€1.27 billion) in its preliminary figures for 2024, with growth of 12.2% at current exchange rates and 12.4% at constant exchange rates, compared to 2023.

The luxury brand, which has four stores in London including its flagship at 135-137 New Bond Street, has seen sales rise by 17.8% in the Americas, 6.6% in Europe and 12.6% in Asia, with retail sales up 14% and wholesale sales up 8.8% - with a turnover of £359 million (€427.2 million) accounting for 33.4% of sales.

Looking ahead, the company is "very confident" about its growth plans in the coming years. Referring to 2025, it highlights the "beautiful order book" and the positive initial sales of its SS25 collections.

Read the full article here.

Mulberry

Mulberry's trading update for the 13 weeks ending 28 December 2024, with its performance in the important festive period, was described as "satisfactory".

Revenue declined 18.3%, as a result of the continuing challenging macro-economic environment. Meanwhile, retail sales declined 16.5%, with UK sales down 20.3% and international sales down 8.7%.

Mulberry recognised that its recent performance has been "sub-optimal" and envisaged a two-phased strategy to address this.

In the near term, the company's focus will be on rebuilding gross margin and restoring profitability; and over the mid-term, the business is targeting annual revenue of £200 million.

Read the full article here.


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