Dior to carry LVMH this year?

With over 75 maisons, LVMH can look like a conglomerate that is hard to decipher. In reality, value creation is highly concentrated in a handful of brands that generate most of the profits.

The Fashion & Leather Goods division accounts for less than half of sales, but over 70% of the group's EBIT. According to several analysts, Louis Vuitton alone represents around half of operating profit. Add Dior, and the figure reaches two thirds.

No segment "outperforms” as much as this one. For other segments, the share of EBIT never exceeds the share of sales. That is a sign of exceptionally high margins at the maisons that set the pace of the fashion weeks. 

Why Dior could be the engine in 2026

With many betting on Dior this year, it is partly for a simple reason: the comparison effect. After two years of declining sales, the base is more favorable.

But above all, Dior should benefit from the arrival of Jonathan Anderson as artistic director. He is leaving Loewe, which he shaped, to take the reins of both Dior's menswear and womenswear - a rare setup in the sector.

He has just presented his spring-summer 2026 collection, stepping into the big league of haute couture. His vision will be assessed over the longer term; in the meantime, many consumers who have kept their distance from the brand in recent years are expected to return to stores out of curiosity. Analysts at HSBC expect the brand to post 10% growth in 2026. 

Louis Vuitton, meanwhile, is coming out of two difficult years. At the start of the 2020s, its aspirational dimension - luxury perceived as more accessible - drew strong demand. But in the recent slowdown, that exposure has proved less protective than brands that speak more directly to the very wealthy, namely Hermès, Brunello Cucinelli or Loro Piana, which sits in the group's stable. 

Bernard Arnault set the tone at the post-results conference: the time is for focus, rather than diversification, for the brand. The emphasis is therefore on leather and travel. 

The fashion & leather segment posted four quarters of decline last year. The segment is expected to gradually return to growth this year thanks to Dior, solid US demand and a Chinese market that is stabilising, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets. 

Among the 10 brands contributing most to EBIT, five maisons come from Fashion & Leather. Alongside Louis Vuitton and Dior are Celine, Fendi and Loro Piana, which has become the portfolio's rising star.

The group has also just strengthened its stake in Loro Piana, moving from 85% to 94%, on a valuation of around 11 billion - a clear signal of its strategic importance.

At the other end, Kenzo and Givenchy appear to be losing momentum.

Finally, in a luxury market that has slowed overall, one segment has continued to perform: luggage. At LVMH, Rimowa embodies this trend, with revenue already at 1 billion according to HSBC analysts. 

The new head of the Fashion Group is Pietro Beccari, who is also CEO of Louis Vuitton and a new member of the executive committee. After the luxury-sector slowdown, he will have to put LVMH's fashion brands at the heart of the industry rebound.