Living in a lot of luxury

If you were asked to consider what might be Europe’s most valuable company, your mind might wander over some German industrial powerhouse, maybe a financial services giant or a purveyor of hi-tech weaponry to Middle Eastern autocracies with more oil money than friends. But all those thoughts can rapidly be returned to the box as the gong in question goes to LVMH, the French luxury goods giant whose aggressively priced and heavily branded handbags, scarves and hooch are the main prize for every aspirant consumer in Guangzhou.

The company’s share price has gained 29% in the year, boosting its market cap to a whisker shy of $500bn and sneaking it into the global top 10 behind all the usual tech suspects, Saudi Aramco and, for reasons which still provoke the lifting of a quizzical eyebrow, Tesla.

LVMH’s soaring sales growth has been led by a remarkably strong performance in China, where punters have emerged from endless lockdowns with an admirable determination to celebrate their liberation by shipping in great armfuls of luxury goods.

Sceptics might point to widespread economic headwinds, rising interest rates and a generalised cost of living crisis to suggest the music must stop at some point, but for the moment the admirers of a strong Gini coefficient seem to be in the ascendancy.

LVMH certainly has a remarkable array of brands to enable you to see off the effects of a recession in some style and comfort, insulated from the cold in your Loro Piana knitwear while keeping hydrated with a sip or two of a wellaged Château d’Yquem.

It has struggled to match more innovative competitors marketing to younger consumers on TikTok and Instagram