Despite a gloomy economic backdrop LVMH’s Jewellery and Watches division saw profits leap by 53% in 2015.
In a difficult global market for luxury watch sales with contracting international markets, unfavourable currency rates and geopolitical instability, LVMH’s Watches and jewellery division saw revenues swell to €3.31bn in 2015 from €2.78bn in 2014, a 19% increase.
Organic growth, based on ‘comparable structure and exchange rates’ was reported as 8%, meaning LVMH benefited by 10% from exchange rates and another 1% in structural changes.
Profits from recurring operations of the Watches and Jewellery division also leapt a staggering 53%, from €282m in 2014 to €432m last year.
LVMH’s watch brands include TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith as well as the watches from Dior, Bulgari and Chaumet and while the LVMH 2015 report doesn’t list the performance of the group’s individual brands it praised the performance of;
TAG Heuer‘s new Connected smart watch and increased visibility
Hublot‘s growth in sales led by Classic Fusion and Big Bang lines
Bvlgari‘s ‘excellent year’ with major gains in jewellery, but also driven by sales of its Lvcea – which was named WatchPro’s Women’s Watch of the Year in 2015.
Dior‘s success with its Grand Bal fine timepiece collections, one of which was Highly Commended in WatchPro’s Trendsetting Watches of the Year 2015 category.
The report also noted that its watch brands had been impacted by ‘the cautious purchasing behaviour of multi-brand retailers’. Europe and Japan were identified as the most ‘dynamic’ regions for all LVMH brands.
Future developments included a Hublot flagship boutique opening in New York in the first half of 2016.
Total group revenue in 2015, which includes 70 luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Moet Chandon, Fendi and Givency was €35.7bn with €6.6bn in profits, up 16% on the previous year.
