LVMH's nine-month revenue holds at €57.1bn as Japan posts "good growth" while China cools

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported revenue of €57.1 billion for the first nine months of 2026, up 2% organically on the same period last year, the group said in a release dated October 12. Reported revenue fell 2% on the year-earlier figure, as a 3-percentage-point currency drag outweighed the organic gain.

Organic growth slowed to 1% in the third quarter alone. LVMH said growth "reflected the impact on business activity of a less buoyant environment in China, while the United States, Europe and Japan saw good growth."

Fashion & Leather Goods is the lone decliner

Among LVMH's five business groups, only Fashion & Leather Goods -- still the group's largest at €26.4 billion over the nine months -- contracted organically, down 2% for the nine months and down 5% in the third quarter alone, as strength in the US was offset by softer demand in China, the release said. Watches & Jewelry (+8% organic over nine months, +6% in the third quarter) and Selective Retailing (+6% organic over nine months, +8% in the third quarter) were the strongest performers, with Wines & Spirits also up 5% organically over the nine months; Perfumes & Cosmetics was flat.

Within Fashion & Leather Goods, LVMH credited new designs for driving demand at several maisons -- Christian Dior's ready-to-wear and leather-goods lines under creative director Jonathan Anderson, Celine under Michael Rider, and Louis Vuitton's menswear under Pharrell Williams -- while Dior opened a new flagship on Milan's Via Monte Napoleone in September, its second new store this year after one in Osaka in May. Marc Jacobs, by contrast, was sold to WHP Global on September 1.

What it means for Japan

For Japan, the figure is qualitative rather than quantified: LVMH's release does not break out a country-level number for Japan, grouping it with the US and Europe simply as a market with good growth in the third quarter, against a softer China. But where that grouping lands matters. Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co., Bulgari and Loewe all trade in Japan through their own flagships and department-store concessions, and Vuitton and Dior sit inside Fashion & Leather Goods, the one business group still shrinking organically group-wide. A Japan business holding up while China cools is, by extension, one of the things keeping that division's numbers from being worse.

That division's own quarterly swing is the thing to watch: organic growth went from a 1% gain in the second quarter to a 5% decline in the third, according to the appendix to LVMH's release. A shift in Japan's own trajectory, in either direction, would show up first inside exactly that business group.

LVMH's outlook statement struck a steady note: the group said it remained confident and would keep its strategy focused on brand desirability, product quality, "excellence in retail" and an agile organisation, without issuing new numerical guidance.