LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group, recorded revenue of EUR 14 billion in the first half of 2014, an increase of 3%. Organic revenue growth was 5% compared to the same period in 2013. The Group continued to grow in the United States and Asia. Europe demonstrated resilience despite a still challenging economic environment.

The first half-year was very favourable for the Swiss watch industry as a whole. Exports once again passed the 10 billion franc mark, with 10.532 billion. This high level corresponds to growth of 3.0% compared to the first half of 2013. The rate in this first part of the year is slowing however, with a result of +4.6% for the first quarter and +1.6% for the second.

Swatch Group generated gross sales of CHF 4 535 million at constant exchange rates in the first half year of 2014 and thereby grew by a further 8.5%. The already overvalued Swiss franc strengthened further against currencies in all of the Group’s important sales regions compared to the first half of the previous year. The extremely adverse exchange rate situation negatively impacted Group sales by CHF 188 million or 4.5 percentage points.