Earnings call transcript: LVMH shows resilience amid Q1 2026 challenges

Published 04/13/2026, 01:23 PM
© Reuters.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2026, demonstrating resilience despite geopolitical and currency headwinds. The company achieved EUR 19.1 billion in revenue, reflecting a 6% decline in reported growth due to a strong euro and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The stock price saw a slight decrease, closing at EUR 483.3, down 0.32%.

Key Takeaways

  • LVMH reported EUR 19.1 billion in Q1 2026 revenue, a 6% decline in reported growth.
  • Organic growth was 1%, impacted by Middle East conflicts and currency headwinds.
  • The stock price experienced a minor decline, reflecting market caution.
  • The company continues to prioritize growth through product innovation and strategic retail expansion.

Company Performance

LVMH’s performance in Q1 2026 highlighted its ability to navigate challenging conditions. The company recorded 1% organic growth, despite a 6% decline in reported revenue. The Middle East conflict and euro strength were significant factors, with the latter causing a 7% negative impact on results. The company’s focus on heritage brand celebrations and innovative product launches helped maintain momentum, supported by an impressive gross profit margin of 66% for the last twelve months. According to InvestingPro data, this represents one of the standout metrics for the luxury goods leader, which maintains a market capitalization of $279.5 billion.

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue: EUR 19.1 billion, down 6% YoY
  • Organic Growth: 1%
  • Currency Impact: -7% on reported results
  • Geographic Revenue Mix: Asia 32%, Europe 16%, declines in France, Japan, and the U.S.

Outlook & Guidance

LVMH’s forward guidance reflects optimism for continued growth, with revenue forecasts showing potential recovery in the coming quarters. The company plans to maintain its investment in growth initiatives while managing costs effectively. The focus remains on achieving organic growth to stabilize margins. For investors seeking deeper insights, InvestingPro offers comprehensive analysis including Fair Value estimates and 8 additional ProTips beyond those mentioned here. The platform’s Pro Research Report, available for LVMH and 1,400+ other US equities, transforms complex financial data into clear, actionable intelligence through intuitive visuals and expert analysis.

Executive Commentary

Executives emphasized the strategic priority of growth restoration over aggressive cost-cutting. They highlighted the importance of maintaining investments in product innovation and retail expansion. "Our commitment to creativity and heritage brand strength continues to drive our performance," said a company spokesperson.

Risks and Challenges

  • Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East may continue to impact demand.
  • Currency fluctuations, particularly the strong euro, pose ongoing challenges.
  • Achieving the necessary organic growth to stabilize margins remains critical.
  • Consumer demand volatility, especially in key markets like China and the U.S., could affect sales.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts focused on the impact of geopolitical tensions and currency headwinds. Questions also addressed the company’s strategies for maintaining growth and managing costs amid these challenges. Executives reiterated their focus on leveraging brand strength and innovation to navigate the current environment.

Full transcript - LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) Q1 2026:

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you for joining today’s conference call. I’m Rodolphe Ozun, Director of Financial Communications at LVMH. With me is Cécile Cabanis, our Chief Financial Officer. Cécile will start by taking you through the key highlights of the first quarter. I will then comment our performance by business group, after which Cécile will conclude and will be happy to take your questions. As a reminder, certain information to be discussed on today’s call is forward-looking, subject to important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For these, I refer you to the safe harbor statement included in our press release and on slide two of our presentation. Turning now to our announcement. Our release was issued a short while ago in French and English and is available on the website lvmh.com, as are the slides for the call.

Let’s now move on to today’s topic, our first quarter 2026 figures. Passing over to Cécile, who will comment the key highlights for this quarter.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you, Rodolphe, and thank you all for joining our Q1 results call. Starting with a few comments on the first three months of the year on slide three. As you see on the chart, LVMH continued to grow organically in Q1 with improved trends across most businesses. The quarter was impacted by the ongoing conflict in Middle East, which had a tangible incidence on demand in the region in March after a good start of the year, and this accounting for a negative one percentage point on the growth of the quarter. So excluding this impact, organic growth would have been plus 2%. On Middle East, I would like to thank all the teams and the partners locally who had an incredible reaction, protecting our teams and consumers, which is our priority, and helping business to continue.

Elsewhere, Q1 saw solid growth in China and Asia at large, as well as in the United States. Rodolphe will comment division’s performance in more details, but in a nutshell, I would highlight for the quarter a good Chinese New Year, a good response to product innovation and creative renewal in Fashion & Leather Goods, and particularly a good start for Jonathan Anderson products at Loewe. A good performance of our star brands in beauty, an excellent performance of our jewelry maisons with Tiffany’s transformation progressing very well and another good quarter for Bulgari. Finally, a solid momentum across markets at Sephora. Let’s move to the revenue bridge for the three first months of the year on slide four. Group revenues reached EUR 19.1 billion in Q1, up 1% on an organic basis, down 6% on a reported basis.

The euro strength against key currency generated a -7% currency impact in Q1, which continued to have also an unfavorable impact for tourist sales, especially in Europe. Slide five details the geographic breakdown of revenues in euros. Asia and Europe both grew in the mix slightly to 32% and 16% respectively, while France, Japan, and the U.S. fell by one point, and other markets remained stable. This being reported numbers, meaning euro, several changes reflect currency fluctuations rather than underlying, notably when it comes to the U.S. Overall, the footprint of the Group remains very balanced. Let’s move to organic performance by region on Slide six. You can see the strong performance of Asia, excluding Japan, which is up 7% at constant currencies, driven by growth across divisions in China and North Asia in particular.

Europe and Japan are both down 3%, partially reflecting less dynamic tourist consumption, notably in Europe. U.S. momentum improved sequentially to +3%, driven by Watches & Jewelry, Fashion & Leather Goods, and Selective Distribution. Let’s now go to the detail of the division with Rodolphe.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: Thank you, Cécile. Let’s start with Wines & Spirits. Slide 9 shows the Wines & Spirits business group delivered EUR 1.3 billion in revenue for the first three months of 2026. This represents a +5% increase on an organic basis and a -2% decrease on a reported basis after taking account a negative -7% currency effect. Broken down, Champagne & Wines generated EUR 663 million in revenue over the period, whilst Cognac & Spirits generated EUR 610 million, and both segments increased +5% on an organic basis. On Slide 10, we share some of the highlights of the quarter for this business group. Champagne & Wines saw strong performance, and notably for Champagne in Prestige Cuvée from Ruinart, Dom Pérignon, which released its 2017 vintage, and Krug with the release of 2013 vintage.

Veuve Clicquot also unveiled La Grande Dame 2018 rosé, and Moët & Chandon return as the official champagne of Formula 1. The quarter benefited from the early phasing of Easter in Europe and from favorable timing of price increases in Japan. As a result, Q1 performance should not be extrapolated, but all champagne brands grew in Q1. Inventory levels are healthy, and it seems fair to say this is a good start to the year for our champagne business. Rosé wines also delivered a good performance. Château d’Esclans released its 20th vintage of Whispering Angel, while Château Galoupet achieved one of the world’s most rigorous standards for sustainable agriculture with the regenerative organic-certified status. Meanwhile, cognac also saw improved trends at the start of the year, supported by the phasing of Chinese New Year, which more than offset soft U.S. demand.

Finally, Spirit brands unveiled several unique innovations, among which Glenmorangie’s oldest single-malt whisky expression to date, named The Thirty. Turning to Fashion & Leather Goods on slide 12. Revenue reached EUR 9.2 billion for the first three months of 2026. Organic growth improved sequentially to -2%, driven by an improvement in American and Chinese demand, partially offset by the Middle East. After a -7% currency impact, the division was down 9% on a reported basis. I’m now on slide 13, which lists the key highlights of the quarter by brand. This year sees Louis Vuitton celebrate 130 years of the monogram designed by Georges Vuitton as a tribute to his father, Louis, founder of the Maison, and which continues to transcend generation.

The brand also continued to progress on strategic retail initiatives with the opening of LV The Place Seoul, one of the Maison’s largest flagships, pictured on slide 7, which pays homage to the city of Seoul in Korea and to Vuitton’s history, creativity, and savoir-faire through a range of immersive experiences. Finally, Vuitton also unveiled new and successful collections by Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams. Christian Dior saw the arrival of the first products designed by Jonathan Anderson, and although they still accounted for a small portion of the mix in the first quarter, they’re off to a very good start across regions and product categories. After Seoul and Bangkok, Dior celebrated the opening of a third spectacular concept store, the Bamboo Pavilion in Tokyo, which you have on slide 23, offering the opportunity to shop, dine, and discover the work of local artists and artisans, among other experiences.

Most recently, Christian Dior and UNESCO renewed their partnership, Women@Dior & UNESCO, which fosters women empowerment through concrete actions aimed at education and the transmission of savoir-faire. A few highlights to conclude on Fashion & Leather Goods from several of our other Maisons. Loro Piana unveiled a new yarn and fabric called Royal Lightness, which complements the brand’s range of exquisite fabrics such as The Gift of Kings. Celine continued to improve sequentially, driven by new products and Michael Rider’s collection. Fendi, Givenchy, and Loewe also all continued to unveil new creative visions. Finally, Rimowa expanded its iconic classic range with a permanent titanium hue. Moving to Perfumes & Cosmetics on slide 15, where you have the bridge.

Revenue reached EUR 2 billion for the first three months of 2026 and was flat on an organic basis and down 6% on a reported basis after taking into account a negative 6% currency impact. On slide 16, more details on the brands. Perfumes and Cosmetics Business Group saw good performance from its largest brands, starting with Parfums Christian Dior, which continues to perform well, notably in makeup, with the recent release of two new foundations in its Forever range, Skin Glow and Skin Wear Foundation. Women’s fragrances also enjoyed strong growth led by recent launches, the latest fragrance in the J’adore franchise, J’adore Intense, created by Francis Kurkdjian, as well as three new Addict perfumes. Lastly, in skincare, Dior saw good growth from its flagship range, Dior Prestige. A few words on some of our other brands.

Guerlain enjoyed a very strong start to the year across all categories and notably fragrances driven by L’Art & La Matière and Aqua Allegoria collections, and saw continued success of its Rouge G lipstick. Finally, Parfums Loewe and Maison Francis Kurkdjian also continued to deliver strong growth. Now to Watches & Jewelry on slide 18. Revenue came to EUR 2.4 billion in the first three months of the year, up 7% on an organic basis and down 2% on a reported basis after taking into account a negative 8% currency impact. Our Maisons continue to enjoy a very strong response to the development of their iconic lines, notably in jewelry. Tiffany saw a very good start to the year, driven by strong momentum in fine jewelry, in particular HardWear, Knot, and Sixteen Stone collections, which continue to resonate with consumers and expand rapidly.

High jewelry also enjoyed strong growth with two collections in this quarter, Bird on a Pearl 2026 and Love Birds by Tiffany. The store renovation programs progresses and yields results according to plan, with tangible outperformance from new stores, including New York’s flagship store, The Landmark, which opened three years ago. Lastly, Tiffany announced Natalie Portman as its new House Ambassador and unveiled a new campaign film centered on the many facets of love. On Bulgari, the brand also delivered another strong quarter of growth thanks to the excellent performance of its iconic lines, Serpenti Tubogas and B.zero1, and to a good momentum across all regions. Bulgari unveiled its latest high jewelry collection, Eclettica, which features 128 new high jewelry designs and a selection of exceptional watch creations. Finally, the brand launched a new collection called Viminica, derived from a bracelet designed in 1942.

This is the first chapter in a new Bulgari Eternal range, which merges archival pieces with modern creations. Chaumet unveiled a fresh modern take on its honeycomb-inspired Bee Collection and announced a partnership with WWF. Fred celebrated its 90th anniversary, unveiling 17 new high jewelry creations around its Force 10 Collection, which was first created in 1966. A few words to conclude on watchmakers, starting with TAG Heuer, once again official timekeeper of Formula 1, so good growth in its high-end Carrera range. Hublot returned as official timekeeper of the snowboarding in Aspen and launched a Big Bang MECA-10 Aspen One, which is powered by an in-house movement with a 10-day power reserve. Lastly, Zenith unveiled several new additions to its Defy Collection.

Now looking at our final business group, Selective Retailing, on Slide 21, revenue in the three-month period reached EUR 4 billion, representing a 4% increase on an organic basis and down 3% on a reported basis after taking into account a -8% currency impact. Sephora saw solid growth across its markets and continued to expand its store network, notably in North America, as well as in more recently opened markets like the United Kingdom, with its first store opening in Northern Ireland in February. The Sephora Beauty Celebration event, SEPHORiA, also brought beauty lovers together in Los Angeles for the first time since 2019. DFS remained focused on controlling costs and optimizing its store network.

As you no doubt have seen, at the start of the year, DFS and China Tourism Group Duty Free announced an agreement for the latter to acquire DFS business in Hong Kong and Macau, along with intangible assets in Greater China. More recently, DFS also signed an agreement to sell its travel retail concessions in Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport to Duty Free Americas. Le Bon Marché finally continued to offer its consumers exclusive, distinctive concepts and a diverse range of products alongside a rich array of cultural events. This ends the business group presentation, and I’ll hand back to Cécile for the conclusion of this presentation.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you, Rodolphe. A few words to conclude this presentation before we switch to Q&A. First, despite the macro context, you can see and you have heard that Q1 showed very good progress across most businesses. First, the quarter highlights the merits of our focus on iconic products, both old and more recent, across business groups, from Vuitton’s Monogram, 130 years young, to more recent HardWear at Tiffany, which is fast emerging as a brand, very large and dynamic franchise. We also continue to observe that consumers respond well to creativity and newness in product, but also stores and experiences, as demonstrated by an improving conversion rate across our largest brand. In a context that we can all agree will remain highly volatile in the coming months, and particularly disrupted, we remain confident on growth and committed to deliver long-lasting efficiency.

Thank you very much, and I will now be happy to take your questions.

Conference Operator, Moderator: This is the Conference Operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. The first question is from Anne-Laure Bismuth, HSBC. Please go ahead.

Anne-Laure Bismuth, Analyst, HSBC: Yes. Hi, good evening. Anne-Laure Bismuth from HSBC. I have two questions, please. First, can you give us some indication about the performance by clientele for the Fashion and Leather Division, particularly for the Chinese cluster, given the strong improvements you are seeing in Q1 in Asia for the group? The second question is about the performance for the Fashion and Leather Division by brand. Any brand that you would like to point to that performed much better than you thought, and would it be fair to assume that the Dior brand did better than the average in that quarter and the LV brand was in line or slightly lower the average of the division? Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. On clientele, maybe before I go in the detail, the first point to notice is that overall, the local clienteles are slightly positive, and the touristic clientele are mid- to high-single-digit negative. Maybe the best way to take you through the evolution is to look versus Q4 last year. If you look at the progress we made, overall, we gain one point, and this point is made with three tangible moving parts. The first one is on the American clientele that have been improving from slightly negative in Q4 to low- to mid-digit positive in Q1, and this account roughly for one point. The second one, and you mentioned it, is Greater Chinese, which improved from low- to mid-negative in Q4 to flattish in the Q1. In this flattish you have the local Chinese that are growing very solidly.

The touristic, which is still slightly negative. Finally, the other major impact will be on Middle Eastern turning negative double-digit this quarter. This would be your main movements. If we go through the rest of the clientele, European are flattish, Japanese are down low to mid-single-digit, and other Asian nationalities are down mid-single-digit. Within that, you have Koreans that are positive and Southeast Asia that are below the average. That would be overall the clientele performance and the evolution and the one-point improvement that we’ve been seeing in Q1. On the brand, for the Q1, both LV and Dior are very close. They are very close of each other, with Vuitton continuing to be more resilient than the average and Dior improving quite a lot versus previous quarters. You have Loewe, Berluti still growing double-digit.

Rimowa is also outperforming the average, and the rest of the brands are below the average. That’s for the brand.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Zuzanna Pusz, UBS. Please go ahead.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas3: Thank you for taking my questions. I have three. Maybe first of all, actually follow up on the Middle East, because you mentioned in the press release that at the group level there’s a one percentage point negative impact. I was just wondering, is it the same case for Fashion & Leather Goods? I’m just wondering if it’s not a bit bigger given that you mentioned the cluster is down double digits. Secondly, I was just wondering if you could tell us maybe anything about the drivers of sales at Fashion & Leather Goods. If you can maybe mention what’s been more or less pricing year to date, or the, I don’t know, up/low single-digit mix, anything you could mention.

Thirdly, I appreciate it’s probably a bit difficult to comment because this is a revenue call, but is there any indication you could tell us how we should think about the margins, especially for Fashion & Leather Goods in this context? Maybe specifically, I guess we’ve had some questions from investors if there is any disproportionate impact, any margin difference of Middle East versus rest of the world, specifically again for Fashion & Leather Goods. Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you, Zuzanna. On Middle East, overall, if you look at the mix within the Group sales, it’s around 6%. You’re right to mention that it’s not for every division the same. It’s much less for Wines & Spirits. It’s more for Watches & Jewelry. It’s even more for Sephora. Fashion & Leather Goods is just a bit more than the average, but quite close to the average. That’s for Middle East. On the growth component of FLG in the quarter, you have around 2% price impact. The mix is slightly negative, and the rest is volume. The main movement is volume. If you consider outside of Middle East, volume is improving quite nicely.

On your question on the margin, yes, it’s a bit early because there are still a lot of uncertainty, especially when it comes to the scale and the outcome of the Middle East conflict. That said, the first element you need to take into account for the margin is the currency impact, which is going to be in line with what we shared in the full-year results around 80 basis points negative for the first half. On the organic, we said that we needed 3%-4% organic growth in order to stabilize margin. We could maybe do it with a bit less, but if you go to flattish or slightly negative, then it will have an impact on organic margin. Obviously, we’re working on cost and on mitigation measures.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Thank you. The next question is from Thomas Chauvet, Citi. Please go ahead.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas2: Good evening, Cécile and Rodolphe. I have two questions, please. The first one on the U.S. and the improving trend here. We’ve seen several data points, including luxury credit card data, showing a strong Q1 spend in the U.S., including in March. Could you comment maybe on the U.S. performance for your key businesses and say whether you’ve seen changes in March in traffic, in conversion after the war in the Middle East started, and maybe comment also on Europe, whether the European consumer, the local consumer, is behaving differently in March and perhaps early April? Secondly, on Asia ex-Japan +7% in the quarter, I think that’s the best quarterly performance really since the end of 2023. Are you seeing here on the ground any change? You talked about the Chinese cluster for F&L improving nicely.

Are you seeing any change in the mood, in the traffic on the ground? Give us some color maybe on the underlying performance of the key division if we strip out the Chinese New Year impact on cognac. Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you, Thomas. The trend in the U.S. and with the American clientele is quite homogeneous on the quarter. To your question, we didn’t see any specific disruption linked to the start of the conflict. The improvement has been throughout the quarter, and indeed on local clientele, we’re quite happy with the performance. On the E.U., actually, the Europeans are resisting and quite resilient because the European clientele is only slightly negative. You still have the impact on the touristic clientele because of your currencies, and you might have some disruption also. It’s very difficult to address on some specific tourism because of the conflict. Your question on Asia, +7%, you’re right to mention that it’s the best quarter since 2023, and it’s good because it’s broad-based.

One thing maybe to notice is that also Sephora is flat this quarter on the Asia cluster and especially China, which was one of the geographical area that we were fixing for Sephora, so it’s good to see that it’s rebounding. On the underlying, in term of clients, first, in China, we see good response to the newness and the products, especially what we have been starting to put in store for Jonathan Anderson on the Loewe side. Second, in Asia, you know that we’ve opened in Seoul, the place which is the new flagship from Vuitton. There was a picture, I don’t know if you saw it on the presentation. This has reconnected the Korean and rebounded the growth for Vuitton in Korea, which is an important market. This is also a very good outcome.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas2: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Antoine Belge of BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas: Hi, it’s Antoine Belge at BNP Paribas. Three questions, if I may. First off, going back to the impact of the Middle East, I think you said down double-digits, but is it possible to be a bit more specific on the month of March? Was it down 30%, 50%? Are you seeing a bit of an improvement early in the quarter? If -1% is the impact from one month, would you think that -3% would be the impact on a full quarter? My second question is about the newness. Is it fair to say that in the second quarter, you expect more availability of products from Jonathan Anderson in stores? Can you talk a bit more about the product pipeline at Vuitton? This is the 130th anniversary of the monogram, but what is it translating into?

Is there, beyond Q2, a certain pipeline of product to be aware of? My third question is about China or Chinese. There is a bit of a disconnect in my view, if I may, between a flattish Chinese cluster on a good Chinese New Year. I don’t know if you could explain a little bit, and also what’s your view more broadly about Chinese consumption? There was this idea that comps were easier for four quarters, but the macro was still challenging. Any updated view on China for this year? Thank you very much.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. Middle East, maybe I’ll put it simple so that you can have an easy idea of the impact. If you take the Group, it’s overall 6% of the mix. I said earlier, there are plus and minuses depending on the division. When the conflict started, and in the month of March, there was a shortfall and a deterioration of demand between 30% and 70%, depending on the malls, depending on the businesses. Overall, if you take a 50% deterioration, then you can have the overall impact, which would be indeed three points in March and one point on the quarter. I think the outcome, it’s probably anybody’s guess. What we have not seen yet is repatriation. What we know is that the wealth has not evaporated, so there will be a time where we’ll see that coming, probably elsewhere, and mitigate the impact should the conflict continue.

On the newness, so the first drop of Jonathan Anderson came in Q1 as we explained it will. It was mostly ready-to-wear, and it was not the full collection. Yes, we expect more to come gradually also on the bags and the shoes. It will continue to come to the stores in the coming quarter. On Vuitton, actually, the 130 years Monogram anniversary was not supposed to be a commercial event, but it did yield quite good results with also a correlated impact on the classic Monogram. It’s been having some response. I think Vuitton has demonstrated that it can nourish its client, both with a product and with very unique retail experience, which will continue in the Q2. On China and Chinese, yes, it depends how you look at it, obviously.

If you look at where we came from, the Chinese cluster has improved quite nicely with Chinese clientele locally growing solid in the Q1. We have improved quite significantly the touristic part of the clientele. It’s true that it’s still negative. We’ll continue to ensure that we do what it takes in order to gradually improve.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Edouard Aubin, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Edouard Aubin, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Good evening. Three questions, if I may. The first one is still on Fashion & Leather Goods. Your comparison basis is getting quite easier in the second quarter. You’re going to have less of a Murakami headwind in Q2 versus Q1. I’m not asking for guidance, which you would not provide anyway, but can you just help us with the kind of tailwinds and headwinds we should have in mind, the technical factors, when we are looking ahead at the second quarter, and knowing that you don’t have a crystal ball last time I checked. Number two on Dior. You kind of indicated that, I guess the brand came in a bit below the division, so maybe down -3% in the first quarter. One of the competing leading luxury brand is kind of enjoying a moment, which seems to have kind of intensified in March.

To what extent the exit rate might have been impacted for Dior because of the competitive dynamics? That would be my second question. Lastly, sorry, thank you very much for the indication you provided, big picture by brand for Fashion & Leather Goods in Q1, which basically confirmed that we are a bit in a K-shape economy where the brands more exposed to high-net-worth individuals seem to be clearly performing better. It’s a bit of a difficult question, but in that context, can Vuitton, which is obviously a very large brand, print positive growth if the sector continues to have difficulty recruiting from the middle-income consumer? To what extent is that an issue for Vuitton this year? Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. Maybe the easiest for you to have an idea on how to look at what could be the sequence in the Q2 would be to give you one data point, which is, in March, if you remove the impact of the conflict, Fashion & Leather Goods would have been flattish in term of growth. There is no other than this one, which is quite a big one. There is no other technical impact at this stage to take into account for the quarter. The only thing that you have to take in mind is that, as I said, consumer respond well to the newness, the products, the store. There are improvement in many markets, especially U.S., as we said, and China. We have local clientele as well, which is positive. That is a very good signal. Overall, you have a divergence between regions that is decreasing.

It’s more homogeneous than what we had seen in some of the previous quarter. On your question about Vuitton, if your question is current momentum, again, here as well, we have improved trends in many places. We’ve discussed several recent facts on retail, whether it’s the 57th in New York, Louis in Shanghai, the place, the 130 years of Monogram, and the continuation of the double-entry strategy will continue to gradually improve and accelerate, and we will continue to accelerate at the right pace. If your question is more philosophical, I think we really need not to enter into a collective anxiety about Vuitton because if we look at the brand, it’s been leading in all key markets for many years. It’s been more resilient than many in hard times.

It has unparalleled competitive advantage on all what matters, and it has always been able to nourish clientele and is continuing to do it with the best-in-class operating model, the best-in-class inventivity when it comes to retail, product, and creativity. We are very confident on Vuitton’s ability to continue to improve, and we have no worry about the growth at Vuitton.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: On just one point on both Dior and Vuitton, we never said they underperformed division average, by the way, just factually.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Luca Solca, Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Luca Solca, Analyst, Bernstein: Yes, good evening, and thank you for taking my questions. My first question is on Dior. When we look at our social media analysis globally, we seem to be getting a bit of a spiky performance in terms of where Dior is now getting traction, with social media in the West reporting better performance than social media in China. The feedback from the field in China is weaker than what we got from the West. I wonder if you could confirm this or maybe disprove it, and if there’s anything down the road that could potentially further strengthen your recovery in China. A question on the exit rate as far as the Middle East is concerned.

While I realize that this was only a month or so, the month of March, we seem to assume, and I would tend to assume, that there was a much bigger impact in the first few days or in the first few weeks of the conflict, and that things have gone back to almost normal as we moved into the latter part of March and the beginning of April. I wonder if you implicitly were pointing at this trend being correct. Last but not least, I assume that there was not a major impact from new stores and new space in the quarter for Fashion & Leather Goods. Please confirm if I’m wrong or right. Thanks very much.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. On Dior, we actually see very nice performance and products reception on both U.S. and China. The performance is a bit less good rather in Japan and Europe, but like a bit everyone else, given the impact of the tourism. On both U.S. and Chinese, it has improved markedly versus previous quarter. On your mention on the Middle East, well, at the really beginning, there was full closure of stores. What we see today is still that demand is very much down. Remember as well that the retail repartition is not even, so there are very strong touristic malls where some of the brands have stores that used to be in the top 10 or top 20, and these are still very strongly impacted.

The one that is resisting better is Sephora because Sephora in Middle East is also having a big presence in Saudi, and Saudi is better and more resilient in this time. Overall, we still see a significant downside demand in the touristic malls. On the impact of the new stores, I think all of them are performing quite well. I mention Vuitton because the place is really doing very well. It’s kind of the same impact at Louis, and Louis continues to perform very well, by the way. It’s in a very important market where it reconnected the brand also with Korean, with a lot of success. We are very happy with that.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Charles-Louis Scotti, Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.

Charles-Louis Scotti, Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux: Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two, please. The first one on Watches & Jewelry, the growth was solid at +7%. If my estimates are correct, this appears to broadly reflect the embedded pricing impact. Could you please provide more detail by segment between Watches & Jewelry, and in particular, did the jewelry volumes grow during the quarter? My second question, there have been several press rumors suggesting that you may consider divesting some of your beauty brands, such as Make Up For Ever or Fenty Beauty. Can you confirm whether you intend to rationalize your beauty brands portfolio? Also regarding the Wines & Spirits, the sector also appears to be entering a phase of consolidation. Could you participate in this trend in one way or another? Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. Thank you for your questions on Watch and Jewelry growth. There have been some price increase, but you need to be careful when you look at it on the face value because it was on specific range and specific products. Overall, yes, there is volume growth. I would really like to take the opportunity to thank the team at Tiffany and at Bulgari. On Tiffany, the transformation is really progressing well. We are now around 60% on fine jewelry growing strong double-digit. In addition to that, the icons that are importantly getting traction are growing even more so. We mention HardWear, we mention Knot, we mention Sixteen Stone. We are very happy that the transformation of Tiffany is unfolding with success. Bulgari has done a great quarter after a very strong one as well.

The jewelry brands are growing very well. On the watches, it’s still negative, but there are quite some difference in the brand and the region. It was positive in the U.S., which is good because for TAG Heuer it’s the biggest market. Overall, it’s still negative. You know that Zenith has a very interesting competitive advantage when it comes to manufacturing and industrial, probably not enough embedded in the brand equity, so we need to make that evolve. Overall, very happy with the jewelry Maison and the growth there, the quality of the growth. On the press rumors, I have nothing to report, and I am not going to comment the press rumors. I can repeat what I say is that whenever, and it’s not specific to beauty, but whenever we have underperforming brand, the first priority is to fix them.

If in some case, like it happened with DFS, like it happened in the past with Stella McCartney, we see or we have a discussion with an operator where we believe it will be the good place for the brand to land, then we make a deal. What happened in the Q1 was we signed for DFS to sell off the airport concessions in the U.S., and we closed the deal with China Duty Free, sorry. On Wines and Spirits, what I can say is that if you look at Moët Hennessy portfolio, it has a unique feature, which is its exposure to super premium range of product. I think it’s a very strong competitive advantage in a world where people qualify that of drinking less, but drinking better.

If you look at other players, any combination somehow would probably lead to a dilution of that portfolio because it’s very unique.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: Thank you. We’ll take next question.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Next question is from Carole Madjo of Barclays.

Carole Madjo, Analyst, Barclays: Hi. Yes, good evening. Two questions on my side, please. The first one, just to follow up on the Watches & Jewelry division, can you come back on how the jewelry space is evolving in China, of course the key brands, Bulgari and Tiffany? From what of course we are seeing, it seems like domestic brands over there are taking market share, growing quite strongly. Are you also being affected by this, or are your brands also being able to see growth despite the new competitive environment? That’s the first question. The second one, just to come back quickly on FLG and on the comments that you have been sharing so far.

Would it be fair to assume that a growth of at least low single digit could be possible in Q2 on the back of the easier comp base and the confidence and improvement you are seeing across the U.S., China, et cetera? Thanks.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: On jewelry in China, you know that it was a place where, especially for Tiffany, it has been difficult in the recent quarter. So we are improving, which makes us very hopeful for the follow-up. But we still have work to do in China in term of making sure that we deploy the icon at the high speed, et cetera. But we are confident that this will come.And on Q2, I think we can really repeat what we’ve been seeing. Meaning one data point is that for FNLG, March would have been flattish outside of the impact of the conflict. Second, the local clienteles have continued to improve and are now positive, and we expect it to gradually continue. And the rest is obviously that we don’t know yet the outcome of the conflict.

One thing as well is that we might see, if it lasts, some repatriation of some of the wealth in other geographies. We will make sure that if it happens, we are there to serve the clients.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Oliver Chen at TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Oliver Chen, Analyst, TD Cowen: Hi. Thank you. Hi, Cécile and Rodolphe. Regarding conversion rates, Cécile, in your comments, where are you seeing conversion rate differences? It sounds very encouraging. Will that offset traffic? What should we know about conversion in the context of the Fashion and Leather division? Second, as we look ahead to advertising and promotion, the Monogram campaign has been very exciting, but you mentioned in some ways less transactional. What’s ahead for demand creation in this dynamic environment as you’re thinking about innovation with marketing and demand creation? Third and finally, on Sephora, if we could have color on the, no pun intended, comp store sales within cosmetics or other categories. It’s been a really nice category, but it’s a more competitive market with Amazon and Ulta, et cetera. Thank you very much.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. In the quarter, we’ve seen traffic being down, but conversion improving, as you said. Clienteling is obviously easier to do with high-end and recurring consumers, while often traffic drives recruitment. However, we didn’t see any shift in the clientele pyramid. It’s true that we’ve been working a lot, especially with AI, in how we improve conversion, and it is happening, so we are happy with that. On demand creation, it’s not a menu or a list of things that you will do. It’s really around for each clientele, being able to resonate with them, with the products, with the stores, with the experience, with the service. I think we have demonstrated that whether on newness for product, on retail experience, on exhibition, on pushing our icons, we’ve been able to do it. We will continue to unfold what we are doing.

On Perfumes & Cosmetics, we were flat on the quarter. The best-performing brands are our premium brands. Within the premium brands, the best-performing range are the premium products of the range. I think we’ve been very clear that making sure we focus on maintaining desirability and being exclusive in distribution is going to push for long-lasting performance, and this is happening. We will, here again, continue to work on that. There are great opportunities both in makeup and perfume. This is where we’ll be pushing.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Dana Telsey Advisory Group.

Dana Telsey, Analyst, Dana Telsey Advisory Group: Hi, good evening, everyone. As you think about locals and tourist customers, how did it differ by region in terms of the performance, stronger in one region than another, and how does it differ by brand? Given some of your wholesale distribution, particularly in the U.S. in Saks, are you eliminating some of that distribution? How do you think about wholesale distribution versus your own stores? You opened two beautiful Dior stores, one in New York, one in Los Angeles, in 2025. Any showcase stores that we should be thinking about for 2026? Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Thank you. Maybe because I did not answer on the Sephora like-for-like question, so let me start with that. On Sephora, you have several levers for growth. You have the like-for-like, definitely. You also have, and it’s growing strongly on the like-for-like, you have to look at the Selective division, considering that DFS is costing you 2 points of growth. That will give you a best view of the rhythm of growth for Sephora. A big part of it is like-for-like. You know that we continue to expand where we have underdeveloped exposure. It was a very good success in the U.K. where we continue to expand, and there are still some markets where we have opportunity to continue the geographical expansion.

Going forward, the growth of Sephora is relying on several levers, the like-for-like, based on their unique model of such brand and nurturing and developing those brands, and also on geographical expansion where there is still opportunities. On the question on tourist and client, the best performing local clientele have been American and Chinese on Fashion & Leather Goods. The Japanese is still a bit down, and the European are quite resilient, but slightly negative, flat-ish, slightly negative. The biggest improvement and performance has been American and Chinese, which is a very good news that on the American side, a sophisticated clientele like that continues to respond and to be there with a good demand. On China, it shows that we continue to rebuild the growth there on local and in a qualitative manner. It’s a good outcome.

Saks had some impact in Q1 in the U.S., around $150 million of sales. We are managing that. Dior, two openings are really getting very good traction, and they participate also to the fact that Dior has been improving very markedly in the U.S.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: Right. Judith, I think we’ve got another two questions.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Piral Dadhania, RBC.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas0: Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Firstly, could I come back to the revenue versus cost equation? I think at the full-year results presentation, there was an emphasis on prioritizing margin, let’s call it stabilization. Obviously, some of the assumptions since then have changed in relation to the Middle East. Cécile, to what extent are you more aggressively deploying cost-saving strategies? Could you maybe give us some flavor as to what areas that might be in? Is it in A&P or perhaps headcount in store? Is it limited to the Middle East or a bit more global in nature? Secondly, just on DFS, I may have missed it, but could you perhaps just give us a high-level summary of the deal economics related to the China Tourism Group Duty Free disposal and also the Duty Free Americas disposal?

Should we be penciling in any cash consideration for 2026? When can we expect those deals to close? Just to be clear, are you intending on selling all of your DFS assets over time so that there will be no duty-free business left once you have found appropriate buyers? Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Very concretely on cost, if we look at Middle East impact, of course, when the conflict started, we went into looking at reducing cost. What you have to take into account is that Middle East is quite a profitable market. What we cut is activation, animation, and short-term thing, but overall, the fixed costs are there. If you lose EUR 1 in sales, you probably lose a bit more in your margin. We continue to be very disciplined in term of the cost. However, our first priority is to go back to growth because this is what is going to ultimately give us a lever in a sustainable manner. The one thing that we don’t want to do is cut cost that would be important in order to restore growth.

For example, when we started in January with the first drop of Jonathan, we put some animation, and it was very important to do that, to create really and continue to have everyone excited, and it worked well. It’s always going to be a balance. Whatever we can remove, and is not necessary for the client, for the service, and for the growth, we will, of course, look at it. On DFS, there were several things. In January, we discussed around the signature, sorry, of the sale of the Greater Chinese part of DFS business to China Duty Free. This has closed in Q1. You will start to have some perimeter effect of probably Q2 will be two points, linked to the closing of that transaction, two points on Selective Distribution, just to be very precise.

Yes, there has been some cash, but we have also closed quite a few locations, if you remember. All in all, it’s not going to make a very important impact in the cash.

Conference Operator, Moderator: The next question is from Piral Dadhania, CLSA.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas4: Hi, Cécile. Hi, Rodolphe. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two very quick questions. The first one is a follow-up on Chinese clientele and also hard luxury. I remember Cécile mentioned Bulgari’s relative strength in the China market in previous questions. Just want to quickly confirm, just how does Chinese clientele perform or Watches & Jewelry compare with fashion and other goods? Is it more outperforming? Regarding Bulgari’s strength, where do you think that Bulgari’s market share taking is coming from? Who they are taking share from? The second question is related to Wines & Spirits. I know we’re just entering Q2, but just wondering if there is any preliminary colors on the selling sentiments for Wines & Spirits for the following quarter, especially under current geopolitical uncertainties and also like Wines & Spirits also have some Travel Retail exposures. Just these two questions.

Thank you.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: On Wines & Spirits, maybe I start with that because we didn’t talk a lot about it for this quarter. You’ve seen that we had solid growth. It was two things. First, it was a good stabilization of the Champagne and good performance of wine. On the other side, there was a good Chinese New Year in Cognac, plus a phasing effect because Chinese New Year was in February this year, January last year. The shipment enabled to count the growth for the start of the year. This helped to mitigate a demand in the U.S. that is still soft and that we don’t see moving a lot. Q2 will not be repeating Q1, overall, given this impact, but we are already quite pleased that Champagne has stabilized and that wine are doing great.

On the Chinese clientele for Tiffany and Bulgari, again, it’s been improving in Q1. We had a very strong Q4 for Bulgari. It’s still going okay. On Tiffany, it’s improving. The overall response to the icon, the craftsmanship, the high jewelry are very strong, and we will continue to lean on that to gradually accelerate there.

Antoine Belge, Analyst, BNP Paribas1: I think it’s the last question, so if you’d like to conclude.

Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer, LVMH: Well, thank you for your attention. Again, we are very pleased with the progresses, even if we are in a moment where there is a lot of volatility. We trust that we’ve been having quite a lot of good response on our initiatives, and we will continue to make sure we focus on that. Have a great evening. Thank you very much for your attention.

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