Luxury goods spending increases
European luxury goods companies are set for a strong year, with robust consumer spending expected across all markets as the sector moves firmly past the slump of 2008 and 2009.
French leathergoods and silk specialist Hermes International, British fashion brand Burberry and Swiss-based Compagnie Financiere Richemont, which owns Cartier jewelry and Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, all reported sales up more than 25% in the last three months of 2010.
“In the luxury goods sector, the biggest surprise in 2010 was the strength of sales in the US and Europe,” said analysts at HSBC. Revenue growth at LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2010, for example, rose 14% in the US and 12% in Europe.
According to analysts from Deutsche Bank, China is set to account for the largest proportion of luxury goods sales in the world in as little as five years time. Within China, brands such as Richemont’s Dunhill, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes have all been focusing on expanding their networks of stores.
