Paris-based LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its full year and fourth-quarter results on Tuesday (January 29, 2019) with a total of 13.7 billion euros in group sales, an increase of nine percent versus last year. The results helped allay fears of the impact of slowing economic growth in China that caused the stock to pop six percent after the company announced.
In a press release, the company stated, “Driven by the agility of its teams, their entrepreneurial spirit, the balance between its different businesses and geographic diversity, LVMH enters 2019 with cautious confidence and once again, sets an objective of reinforcing its global leadership position in luxury goods.”
In press, the label highlighted a “very good response to Virgil Abloh’s and Nicolas Ghesquière’s [Louis Vuitton] fashion shows, success of Maria Grazia Chiuri [Dior] collections, significant media impact of Hedi Slimane’s first fashion show at Celine, success of Clare Waight Keller’s first collections at Givenchy, continued reorganization of Marc Jacobs and successful collaborations at Rimowa.”
In prepared remarks, CEO Bernard Arnault also spoke glowingly of Fenty Beauty‘s success, pointing out that the brand has reached 500 million euros in sales.
While the company remained cautiously optimistic on 2019, Arnault commented, “We need to expect that at some point there’s going to be an economic crisis. Not to slow down investors in any way, but we are being cautious. We know that nothing goes on forever and we know this economic cycle won’t go on forever. Nonetheless, 2019 has gotten off to a good start.”