LVMH Faces Challenges: Profits Fall 22% in First Half, Revenue Down 4%

LVMH continues with its particular via crucis. The French company, world leader in the luxury industry, continues to suffer and closes the first half of the year with sales and profit down. The spirits and fashion and leather goods divisions are the worst performers.

The French group, owner of emblems such as Louis Vuitton and Dior, closed the first six months of the current financial year with sales of €39.81 billion, a 4% drop compared to the 41,677 million euros it posted in the same period of 2024.

The company’s net income, meanwhile, fell by 22% to €5.69 billion, from €7.26 billion in the same period last year. Operating income fell by 15% to €9.01 billion.

“Beyond the prevailing uncertainties, we remain focused thanks to the long-term vision that has always guided our family-owned group,“ said Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH. “We face the second half of the year with great vigilance, and I am confident in LVMH’s enormous long-term potential,“ he added.

LVMH has fallen in sales and profit in all its divisions except retail, which includes Sephora

The company, which like the bulk of the luxury sector began to suffer at the end of 2023, has highlighted that in the first half of 2025 “local demand was solid in Europe, which recorded growth at constant perimeter and currency during the half-year, and in the United States, which remained stable.“ In contrast, the company noted the downward trend in Japan and “comparable trends to 2024” in the rest of Asia.

The fashion and leather goods division, the engine of LVMH’s business, ended the first half with an 8% drop in sales, to €19.11 billion euros, and a 4% decline in operating income, to €6.63 billion. Wines & Spirits saw its sales shrink by the same proportion, while profit plummeted 33%.

In perfumery and cosmetics, on the other hand, the company recorded a fall of only 1%, to €4.08 billion, with a 4% reduction in operating profit, and in watches and jewelry the decline in sales was also 1% and 13% in the case of profit.

The only division of the group with a positive performance is selective retail, which includes, for example, Sephora. This area of the group’s business increased its turnover by 2% in the first half, to €8.63 billion, and earned 12% more, to €876 million. “With a particularly high comparison base, Sephora continued to achieve revenue growth, building on its solid strategy and consolidating its global leadership position,“ the group emphasized.