The owner of Tiffany and Dior gets a boost from China's reopening

London CNN  — 

Shares in LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, jumped to a record high Thursday after it reported strong first-quarter sales buoyed by the economic re-opening in China.

The stock of Europe’s most valuable company rose 4.6% Thursday to hit €875 ($965) apiece, boosting the fortune of its owner Bernard Arnault, already the world’s richest man.

LVMH (LVMHF), which owns brands such as Tiffany & Co. and Dior, reported late on Wednesday sales of €21 billion ($17 billion) in the first three months of the year, up 17% from the same period in 2022.

The Paris-based conglomerate said first-quarter sales in Asia, excluding Japan, were up 14% year-over-year, which represented a “significant rebound.”

Sales were lifted by the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in Asia, the company said in a statement. China ended its strict zero-Covid policy in December.

“We registered some pretty nice pick-up in China, which bodes well for the rest of the year,” Jean-Jacques Guinoy, LVMH’s chief financial officer, said Wednesday.

The company’s cosmetics lines were still a “little under pressure” in mainland China, Guinoy added, though leather goods and jewelry were performing well in the world’s second-biggest economy.

“Overall, we are extremely optimistic,” he said.

In Europe and Japan, first-quarter sales were strong, rising 24% and 34% respectively, thanks to “robust demand” from local consumers and international travelers. In the United States, sales rose 8%.

Stocks in the $460 billion company have rocketed 29% since the start of the year, with the luxury goods market proving resilient in the face of high global inflation and fears that some economies could tip into recession.

Arnault, LVMH chairman and CEO, overtook Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person in December, with a total net worth of $198 billion to Musk’s $176 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.