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Hit by boycott in China, LVMH disappoints market and shares have worst year since 2008. Image crisis in China after dispute against the country's tea maker and weakness in consumer confidence send luxury group shares plunging more than 40% this year By Angelina Rascouet October 13, 2026 | 07:11 AM Bloomberg - Sales at LVMH's largest division suffered a sharp drop, as worsening economic conditions and a consumer backlash in China hurt its main brand, Louis Vuitton. Revenue at the fashion and leather goods unit fell 5% in the third quarter on an organic basis, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE said on Monday, the 12th, a larger decline than analysts had forecast. The luxury group's total sales also fell short of estimates. "These results confirm a stagnation in the already fragile recovery momentum seen earlier this year," RBC analyst Piral Dadhania said in a note. LVMH's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) fell as much as 3.6% in New York after the results were released. The group's shares have plunged more than 40% this year in Paris, a trajectory that could represent its worst annual performance since the 2008 global financial crisis. Louis Vuitton sales were hit in China after the brand won a trademark dispute against Molly Tea, a local tea maker, as Bloomberg News reported last month. The victory sparked a backlash from Chinese consumers, who considered it unfair that the world's largest luxury group took a much smaller company to court. LVMH Chief Financial Officer Cecile Cabanis said it is difficult to quantify the exact effect of the Molly Tea case on Louis Vuitton sales, but that the consumer backlash "had a negative impact, at least at the beginning of the quarter." The region including China posted a 5% drop in sales, the only area with negative performance in the period. More broadly, hopes for a recovery in the luxury sector as a whole were undermined this year not only by weak Chinese demand, but also by the prolonged conflict in the Middle East and lower consumer confidence. Although much of the sector is feeling the effects of the slowdown, LVMH shares have the worst performance this year among major luxury groups, followed by shares of rival Hermès. When asked about profitability in the second half, Cabanis told analysts that although LVMH is working to increase efficiency, cost cuts in the short term will not increase sales. "I'm not sure whether we will be able to fully offset the pressure on revenue in the short term, but we continue to strive," she said. Speaking about Christian Dior Couture, Cabanis said that designer Jonathan Anderson's women's ready-to-wear creations are getting a "great reception" among customers. The new bags, however, have taken a little longer to win over female consumers. Anderson took on the role of artistic director last year to revitalize the brand, which has been losing market share to rival Chanel. See more at bloomberg.com (C) 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

LVMH sales dip amid Chinese slowdown. LVMH reported a sales dip within its fashion and leather goods business in the first nine months of the year (1 January to 31 September) yesterday (12 October). Revenue at LVMH's fashion and leather goods business, which includes brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Celine, Loewe and Givenchy, amounted to €26.39bn (£22.3bn), down 4% on a reported basis and 2% organically in the first nine months. It continued to benefit from the buoyant US market but was affected in the third quarter by a slowdown in demand in China, it said. Third-quarter organic sales declined 5%, with currency fluctuations and one-off events stripped out. The group highlighted strong performances from Dior, Loro Piana, Celine, Fendi, Rimowa and Berluti in its update. Overall group revenue across all LVMH divisions for the nine months was €57.1bn (£48.3bn), down 2% on a reported basis but up 2% organically. Third-quarter organic growth rose 1%. With its diverse range of businesses, LVMH remained "very solid in an uncertain geopolitical and economic environment, and maintained its innovative momentum" in the first nine months (1 January to 31 September), it said. In the update, LVMH pointed out some highlights in its fashion and leather goods division during the nine-month reporting period. Louis Vuitton paid tribute to its original monogram bags for the 130th anniversary of the monogram, with the new Monogram Emblème jacquard weave. Louis Vuitton's ready-to-wear collections designed by artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière saw good momentum, as did the men's collections designed by men's creative director Pharrell Williams. Christian Dior benefited from the major success of creative director Jonathan Anderson's designs. Demand was especially strong for its ready-to-wear and leather goods lines. After opening in Osaka, Japan, in May, a new House of Dior flagship store opened in September, on Via Monte Napoleone in Milan. At Celine, collections designed by creative director Michael Rider were a major success, as was Fendi's new baguette bag, revisited by Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, LVMH said in the update.

LVMH's environmental & sustainability leader: Hélène Valade. October 13, 2026 Hélène Valade, Environment Development Director for LVMH, is awarded 14th place in Sustainability Magazine's Top 250 Sustainability Leaders 2026 list Hélène Valade is Environment Development Director for LVMH, responsible for leading the luxury group's environmental strategy and its LIFE 360 sustainability roadmap across its houses. A Sciences Po Paris graduate, she began her career at IFOP and TNS Sofres before joining Suez in 2005, where she ultimately served as Vice President of Sustainable Development and spent more than a decade building its sustainability agenda. Since 2020 she has led LVMH's environmental development, championing circularity, eco-design and biodiversity. She serves as President of ORSE and sits on the boards of ADEME and CNRS and previously chaired France Stratégie's RSE platform and served as Vice President of the C3D, the college of sustainable development directors. Turning sustainability into a source of desirability. Hélène's work is built around a single conviction: that sustainability and attractiveness are not opposed but feed each other. She frames environmental constraints as a creative lever that can only express itself through innovation, design, regenerative materials and circular models. This philosophy was on display at the World Impact Summit and Good Forum Luxe 2026, held in Paris in February, where Hélène led LVMH's participation as part of the rollout of LIFE 360. The programme is structured around five pillars: * Creative Circularity * Traceability and Transparency * Biodiversity * Climate * Stakeholders. "The sustainable transformation of luxury operates both through the anchoring in the heritage values of the brands and through the creation of new desirable imaginaries," says Hélène at the World Impact Summit and Good Forum Luxe 2026. LVMH sustainability facts * It aims for a 68% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030, with 37% already cut by 2025. * So far, 75% of group energy comes from renewable sources and 91% of stores use LED lighting. * LVMH established an Internal Carbon Fund in 2015, charging Maisons a fee based on their carbon footprint to fund group-wide reduction projects. * By 2025, it reserved or restored 4.3 million hectares of natural habitats, toward a 5-million-hectare goal by 2030. * To date, 41% of materials used in products and packaging come from recycled or eco-designed sources. "Its responsibility, as a sector leader, is to demonstrate that sustainability and attractiveness are not opposed: they feed each other. "Environmental constraints become a creative lever when given the means to express themselves through innovation, design, regenerative materials and circular models. "But we cannot do it alone: that is why cooperation between Maisons, suppliers and institutions is now essential to collectively advance practices across the entire value chain." Transforming behaviours. For Hélène, the lasting transformation of behaviour remains the major challenge even as environmental awareness grows. The goal is to make responsible practices not just acceptable but desirable, so that sustainability becomes a cultural reflex rather than a constraint. At the World Impact Summit she joined a roundtable on strategies, design and narratives that transform, where the discussion centred on emotional sustainability to create attachment and extend product use, creativity under environmental constraint as a source of innovation and cooperation between brands, Maisons and suppliers to accelerate change. Regeneration across the value chain. At Good Forum Luxe, held under the theme Regenerating for Greater Longevity, LVMH demonstrated these principles through concrete projects. Since 2023 Kenzo Parfums has signed progress contracts with suppliers to finance their transition to regenerative agriculture, with fragrances using alcohol derived entirely from French beet fields in transition. Louis Vuitton is exploring regeneration through hybrid store concepts combining art, culture, experience and technology, as demonstrated in Shanghai in 2025 and through co-creation with artists including Yayoi Kusama and Murakami. Moët Hennessy focuses on the preservation of terroirs and engagement with local communities. Circularity in practice. LVMH's circular economy work is embodied by Nona Source, the first online resale platform for exceptional materials from the group's Fashion & Leather Goods houses, launched in 2021. The platform gives deadstock materials a second creative life, demonstrating that creativity can be fully nourished by the valorisation of existing resources. This vision reached the Haute Couture runways in January 2026, when Kevin Germanier's Spring-Summer collection showed that upcycling can align fully with traditional couture codes. Each piece demonstrated how upcycling becomes a source of aesthetic innovation and desirability while drastically reducing environmental footprint. For Hélène, cooperation between Maisons, suppliers and institutions is now essential to advance practices across the entire value chain, positioning LVMH's environmental programme as a driver of desirability and innovation rather than constraint. Company Portals