In Paris Lvmh at historic highs, first European at $500bn capitalisation

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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – Lvmh has become the first European company by market capitalisation and the eleventh in the world, thanks to today’s rise in shares, which have updated new historical highs above 905 euros. The wealth of the Arnault family, owner of 48.2% of the luxury group, has also increased by a measure: since the beginning of the year it has revalued by around 52 billion to over 218 billion euros.

The stock market value exceeds 500 billion dollars

The stock market value of Lvmh exceeded 500 billion dollars (approximately 455 billion euro), benefiting from the rise in shares and the strength of the euro, which crossed the threshold of 1.10 dollars. It is the first time that a European company is worth so much. Worldwide, Lvmh became the eleventh in the standings. Since last March 15, the shares have strung together one rise after another, gaining a total of 16% and lengthening the pace after April 12, the day on which the group announced the revenue trend for the first quarter, clearly higher than expected of analysts: they have in fact increased by 17% to over 21 billion euros.

In five years, stocks have returned 242%

The total return on Lvmh shares over the past five years was 242%, lower only than that of Hermes, according to calculations by Gabriel Debach, an analyst at eToro. «We are still a long way from American values ​​by capitalization, with Apple leading the ranking with its 2,600 trillion dollars (with its maximum peak of 2,940 billion in December 2021), but the data show a ratio coefficient between price and similar shares: both ratios are around 26 times, to be exact 26.7 times for Apple and 26.6 times for Lvmh, with the French stock which has recorded even higher values ​​in the past», commented the expert, according to whom “strong growth” is still to be expected for the shares of the luxury giant. After all the company benefits from geographical diversification, with the reopening of the Chinese market playing in favor, as well as the greater Japanese demand. Numbers in hand, the European and American markets together represent only slightly less than half of the total turnover, exactly about 49.3%. Moreover, for Debach the performance recorded by the group in China in the first months of 2023, with a double-digit momentum, bodes well for the sales trend for the entire year. The eToro analyst highlighted that fashion surpasses US tech, “showing greater resilience to inflationary fears and even to the economic slowdown”.

The value of the shares pushes the Arnault assets higher

Precisely by benefiting from the performance of Lvmh shares, the patron Bernard Arnault, is getting richer. With his family, the French entrepreneur holds 48.2% of the capital. It was already known that he was the most wealthy man on the planet since February 2, the day on which Forbes published the ranking of the world‘s Scrooge McDuck. Surprisingly, the French entrepreneur had overtaken the rich Americans, thanks to the slowdown in technological shares penalized by the rise in interest rates. According to calculations by the magazine, in recent weeks the owner of Lvmh had personal assets of around 211 billion dollars, higher than that of Elon Musk, second in the standings with 180 billion dollars, and almost double compared to the third in the standings. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, with an estimated wealth of around 107 billion. The fact is that from the Forbes survey, Bernard Arnault’s assets have increased further, considering the performance of Lvmh shares on the stock exchange, which today have updated new historical highs. Numbers in hand and considering that the Arnault family owns approximately 48% of the share capital of Lvmh, this means that the Arnaults’ share is worth over 218 billion and that from the beginning of the year to today alone, their assets have revalued by the beauty of over 52 billion euros. Since the beginning of February, when the Forbes article was published, the LVMHs have gone from around 809 euros to today’s 905 euros, pushing the assets of the French family by over 24 billion in the space of a few weeks.

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