The world’s largest luxury brand has announced a revamp of two major fashion labels. The move put the daughter of the richest man in the world in charge of one of them.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton LVMH,
Louis Vuitton announced Wednesday that Pietro Beccari, formerly head of Christian Dior Couture, will take over the role of chief executive and chairman. In his place at Dior is Delphine Arnault, daughter of Group CEO and controlling shareholder Bernard Arnault. The oldest of Arnaud’s five children, she previously served as director and vice president of Louis Vuitton.
LVMH shares rose 1.7% to 769.10 euros before the opening of European trading.
In a note to clients, Citi analysts Thomas Chauvet and Lorenzo Bracco wrote: “Succession planning in strategic roles has contributed to the success of LVMH’s leading brands over the past two decades, and today’s management team change is important.
They pointed to how Senior Arnault is increasing the family’s hold over LVMH. For example, last year we transformed the family holding group Financière Agache into a limited liability partnership.
“This company structure is not widely used in France outside of Hermès and Michelin, and one aspect is tighter control over the company. Antoine Arnault, 45, CEO of Berluti and chairman of Loro Piana, has also become CEO of Dior SE, the holding company that controls LVMH (he is controlled by Financière Agache). You evaluate LVMH to buy at a target price of 780.
Beccari’s predecessor, Michael Burke, will assume a new role and report directly to Arnault’s senior management. Analysts at Citi said the Dior label had been “reinvigorated” under Burke since 2018 and sales had tripled to €6.6 billion. Jeweler Tiffany & Co. was to become part of the group’s watch and jewelry division.
Analysts at Bader Europe said in a note to clients issued on Tuesday that the luxury sector is something investors probably shouldn’t ignore.
“It is hard to believe that a sector worth €730bn is up 11.5% in the first six trading days of this year. said the analyst. “We are clearly at a loss when trying to explain where future overgrowth is coming from and why sector values are soaring.”
They noted that with Asia opening its doors years ago, China’s wealthy will probably choose travel over goods, adding, “U.S. households are clearly getting a little more extravagant, but clearly We can dream of India as the next frontier for European luxury goods, but if Chinese women are to change course, that may not be enough.
However, the luxury sector could be worth a premium as “price is an important part of what a dream is made of, so it is one of the few sectors that can raise prices without being called Entente. , Luxury will not be hampered by mass regulation, as is the case in most large sectors,” Baader analysts said.
Senior Arnaud himself ranks among the richest billionaires in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $178 billion. And his wealth advances day and night compared to former No. 1 billionaire Tesla TSLA.
CEO Elon Musk became famous for being the first to erase $200 billion from his fortune.
Some say that Musk and Tesla’s fortunes have waned because the CEO was stuck with the acquisition of social media group Twitter last year.
As the chart below shows, Arnaud’s and Musk’s fortunes have been heading in opposite directions since the end of last year. LVMH’s share price so far has seen him rise another 12% in 2023, but overall he’s down 6% in 2022, the weakest performance since 2011.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index
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