The Perfumes & Cosmetics business of luxury goods house LVMH has experienced rapid growth in H1 2021 thanks to a surge in direct sales and continued selective distribution, according to the company.
The beauty business group, whose brands include Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy, recorded organic revenue growth of 37% compared with the same period of 2020 – and only down 3% compared with pre-pandemic H1 2019.
Even more encouragingly, profit from recurring operations was up 1% compared with the first half of 2019.
LVMH said the results reflected that its perfumery and cosmetics brands maintained a policy of selective distribution throughout the pandemic, unlike some competitors, who increased their proportion of discounted sales or sales in parallel networks.
It also benefitted from continued growth in online sales, which offset the impact of the suspension of international travel and associated points of sale.
Parfums Christian Dior was singled out by LVMH for its strong acceleration, boosted by the rollout of its Rouge Dior lipstick.
Overall, however, it was the group’s Fashion & Leather Goods business which propelled LVMH recorded revenue up 56% to €28.7bn in H1 and organic revenue by 53%.
That segment achieved organic growth of 81% compared with the same period last year.
