LVMH general meeting: Jonathan Anderson at Dior Men's and 2025 strategy focused on quality

Jonathan Anderson appointed for the Dior Men's collection, to be shown June 2025; quality rather than growth, at all costs; the desire to create a free trade area with the US; and the vote in favour of keeping Bernard Arnault at the helm until the age of 85: these were the four key announcements that emerged from the general meeting of the luxury group LVMH, held at the Carrousel du Louvre on Thursday, April 17, 2025.

The arrival of Anderson at Dior Men's was announced directly by Arnault himself during questions at the end of the general meeting and before the votes. Key figures for 2024 dominated the meeting, when the company underlined its turnover of 86.15 billion euros (up 1 percent compared to 2023), representing a gross margin of 59.27 billion, 10 billion of available cash flow (an increase of 29 percent compared to 2023) and 5.5 billion euros of investments.

Cécile Cabanis, deputy chief financial officer, commented on the results as follows: “With 1 percent organic growth, the change in sales remains stable. Nevertheless, there is a decrease in profit and margins on wines and spirits and losses on DFS, fortunately offset by Sephora.”

‘No longer think about growth and turnover, but about the progression of product ranges,’ Bernard Arnault

Arnault then commented point by point on the results of the group’s houses, highlighting the fact that fashion and leather goods account for 48 percent of sales. The chief executive officer spoke about his group prospects. “2025 began in a disruptive manner due to the geopolitical and economic situation, potential customs duties and the worsening of crises," he stated.

To what he calls “cyclical” rather than “structural” events, he replied: “We must avoid the trivialisation of luxury. We want this group to remain as desirable as possible, even if it means slightly less growth. We will continue to control manufacturing with our values of excellence. If we wanted to generate growth at Louis Vuitton, we would simply have to press a button.”

He cited Loro Piana as an example: “The smaller the brands, the more they appeal to an affluent rather than aspirational clientele. Thus, Loro Piana is showing strong growth with 95 percent of affluent clients.”

Subject of customs duties addressed from the angle of a free trade area

With the US representing 25 percent of market share, the threat of customs duties was of course a hot topic at this general meeting. “We must try to resolve the issue of customs duties by creating a free trade area with the world’s leading market,” stressed Arnault. “This is not easy, because Europe is run by a bureaucracy that penalises our sectors of activity. If we do not succeed, it will be Brussels’ fault, and we will then have to increase our production for the Louis Vuitton and Tiffany houses, which have production workshops in the US.”

This statement was designed to reassure the many shareholders present, who were invited to vote overwhelmingly “yes” to the 28th resolution. The latter concerned the amendment of the articles of association to set the age limit for the chairman of the board of directors and the chief executive officer, in this case Arnault, at 85. General applause.