LVMH Mo�t Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury products group, achieved a 29% increase in operating income for 2002, amounting to 2 008 million Euros against sales of 12 693 million Euros.
Growth accelerated over the second half. After an increase of 19% for the first six months of 2002, operating income over the next half year grew by 37%.
Net income from current Group operations reached 818 million Euros in 2002. This improvement, even greater than the growth in operating income, was largely due to the reduction in financial expense resulting from the lower level of debt.
Key features of 2002 were:
– Continuing growth across the key brands, notably Louis Vuitton, Mo�t & Chandon, Hennessy and Parfums Christian Dior
– Improvement in profitability across all LVMH Group operations, with the exception of Watches and Jewelry which is in an investment phase
– Record margins for Louis Vuitton and an exceptional performance across all geographic markets, notably in Japan where the brand achieved double digit sales growth in Yen over 2002
– Growth in market share across all Group operations
– Significant increase in cash flow from operations which grew to 1.5 billion Euros in 2002 (+65%)
– An increase in net cash flow after dividends allowing a reduction in net debt of 1.8 billion Euro for 2002, exceeding targets
