European luxury shares suffer US$240 billion rout as Chinese forgo high-priced goods
China’s rich, who once flocked to upscale boutiques in Paris, Milan and Hong Kong, may not return amid the economy’s downward spiral
After enduring almost a quarter-trillion dollar hit to their market value in recent months, Europe’s luxury firms may see their stock-market clout wane further as China’s downturn worsens.
Once seen as Europe’s answer to the US “Magnificent Seven” tech megacaps, shares in companies producing high-end clothing, handbags and jewellery are languishing, sapped by a spending slump. Even more ominous are signs that China’s rich, who once flocked to upscale boutiques in Paris, Milan and Hong Kong, may not return, their appetite for pricey items extinguished by the economy’s downward spiral.
“This year is more volatile and more painful because it comes after this excessive growth,” Flavio Cereda, an investment manager at GAM UK, said, referring to the period immediately after the pandemic when consumers liberated from lockdowns splurged on shopping and travel.
For Britain’s iconic raincoat maker Burberry Group, the rout culminated in ejection from London’s FTSE 100 stock index, with its market value down 70 per cent in the past year. While it is the only major brand to lose its index slot, a gauge of luxury shares compiled by Goldman Sachs has shed US$240 billion in value from a March peak.
Gucci-owner Kering and Hugo Boss are the worst hit, shedding almost half their value in the past year. Kering, once a top 10 stock in France’s CAC 40 index, now ranks 23rd. And industry giant LVMH, owner of Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, which was Europe’s largest company by market cap a year back, has slid to second place.
The deflation of the post-pandemic spending bubble was evident in recent earnings reports. Kering, Burberry and Hugo Boss issued profit warnings, while at LVMH, quarterly organic revenue at its crucial leather-goods unit grew just 1 per cent, versus 21 per cent a year earlier. Only brands catering to the ultra-wealthy, such as Hermes International and Brunello Cucinelli, escaped the full force of the earnings downturn.
‘Slower for longer’
