Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of the world’s most valuable luxury brand, Louis Vuitton, increased last year by 14% to €10.96m in a record year for the business.
New accounts show that ‘bling was king’ for the growing number of Irish people purchasing the brand’s products as revenues at Louis Vuitton Ireland Ltd increased by 21% from €30.2m to a record €36.49m.
The brand has only one dedicated store here which is housed in Brown Thomas on Dublin’s Grafton Street and it also generates revenues from online sales.
Sales rocketed at the Grafton Street outlet by 33%, rising from €23.7m to €31.54m as online sales decreased by 24% from €6.5m to €4.95m.
The brand is renowned for its expensive handbags with its City Steamer MM bag currently available online for its Irish customers at €38,500 in three different colours and the Petite Malle CM bag selling for €20,000.
The business sells a designer range of leather goods, accessories, watches, jewellery, fragrances, shoes and clothing here and the strong profits has resulted in the company proposing to pay out a dividend of €9.5m in 2024.
This follows the company paying out dividends of €8.4m in 2023 and €7.04m in 2022.
The directors say that Louis Vuitton will continue to focus its efforts on developing its client networks and will maintain a strict control over costs.
They add that “2023 was a year of continued economic volatility where the macro-economic conditions like the high rates of inflation and interest remain a challenge in the retail sector.”
“In this context, we stay cautious about the ongoing difficulties impacting the industry and the wider economy. Despite this Louis Vuitton continues showing great strength and achieved double digit growth.”
The brand is a favourite of celebrities and pop stars and Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Jennifer Lopez have all been spotted sporting Louis Vuitton branded items.
Louis Vuitton is part of the multi-billion stock market-listed and French headquartered LVMH Moet Hennessy luxury brands company.
The Irish company last year recorded post tax profits of €9.53m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.43m.
Numbers employed by the company last year increased from 15 to 24 staff costs increased from €926,000 to €1.36m.
At the end of December last, the company had shareholder funds of €10.66m and that included accumulated profits of €9.53m.
The directors state that the key commercial risks relate to the continued strength of other brands positioning in the marketplace.
– reporting Gordon Deegan
