PARIS — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton saw a 25 percent drop in business in Hong Kong in the third quarter as tourism plummeted in response to nearly four months of violent antigovernment protests — and it expects no improvement soon.
But shares in the world’s biggest luxury group closed up 5.5 percent on the Paris Stock Exchange on Thursday, bringing their rise so far this year to almost 49 percent, as markets expressed relief that the impact was not more pronounced.
Jean-Jacques Guiony, chief financial officer of Louis Vuitton, said the loss in business would hit the group’s profits, and its brands were in conversation with landlords to renegotiate their rent contracts in a bid to cut fixed costs in the blighted region. Nonetheless, he expressed confidence Hong Kong would eventually rebound.
“The 25 percent drop in Hong Kong in Q3 was a combination of a flattish month in July and around 40 percent drops in August and September, so definitely the trend has been worsening throughout the quarter,” Guiony told a conference call the day after LVMH reported a 17 percent jump in third-quarter revenues.
As the first luxury firm to publish quarterly results, LVMH is viewed as a bellwether for the
But shares in the world’s biggest luxury group closed up 5.5 percent on the Paris Stock Exchange on Thursday, bringing their rise so far this year to almost 49 percent, as markets expressed relief that the impact was not more pronounced.
Jean-Jacques Guiony, chief financial officer of Louis Vuitton, said the loss in business would hit the group’s profits, and its brands were in conversation with landlords to renegotiate their rent contracts in a bid to cut fixed costs in the blighted region. Nonetheless, he expressed confidence Hong Kong would eventually rebound.
“The 25 percent drop in Hong Kong in Q3 was a combination of a flattish month in July and around 40 percent drops in August and September, so definitely the trend has been worsening throughout the quarter,” Guiony told a conference call the day after LVMH reported a 17 percent jump in third-quarter revenues.
As the first luxury firm to publish quarterly results, LVMH is viewed as a bellwether for the