Valuing LVMH Group Through 'The Cult of the Luxury Brand', Pt. 2

In a recent article, I described how The Cult of the Luxury Brand, Radha Chadha and Paul Husband’s book on the luxury industry in Asia, could be used to predict the industry’s growth on that continent.

The book’s model of Asian luxury consumption growth, known as the “Spread of Luxury” model, was interesting to me because it reminded me of how Warren Buffett conceived of Coca-Cola as an investment. Even though the company’s stock looked fairly valued by traditional metrics, Buffett knew that per capita Coke consumption abroad was likely to rise until it approached U.S. levels. Because of that, Coca-Cola’s stock was actually undervalued because the company could look forward to decades of growth.

Similarly, based on the “Spread of Luxury” model, the major luxury conglomerates should be able to look forward to decades of growth as per capita consumption in Asia outside of Japan approaches Japanese levels. However, what is important is calculating this growth and quantifying exactly how much luxury companies will benefit from it. 

The first company I will make such calculations for is LVMH group. LVMH, the owner of such brands as Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, and Marc Jacobs, is the world’s largest luxury goods company. Thus, it is a logical first choice for our valuation method.

In my last article, I laid the groundwork for these calculations by estimating the company's sales in each of its major sales regions. In this one, I calculate how those sales will evolve and contribute to the company's overall growth over the next several decades. (Read More)

Valuing LVMH Group Through 'The Cult of the Luxury Brand', Pt. 1

In my most recent article, I described how The Cult of the Luxury Brand, Radha Chadha and Paul Husband’s book on the luxury industry’s growth in Asia, could be used to predict the industry’s growth on that continent.

Their book contains a model for the development of luxury consumption in Asia, the “Spread of Luxury” model. In that model, countries advance through several stages. Each stage corresponds to not only a different economic development level, but also a different level of luxury goods consumption. Those stages range from “Start of Money,” in which few consumers purchase luxury goods, to “Way of Life,” in which a country’s luxury market is fully saturated. According to Chadha and Husband, the “Way of Life” stage is the end stage for Asian markets as they become fully developed.

In using the “Spread of Luxury” model to estimate luxury goods conglomerates’ future growth, I will start with LVMH group (LVMHF) (LVMHY). LVMH owns brands such as Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, and Marc Jacobs. It is the world’s largest luxury company, with about three times the sales of its biggest rival.

To apply the “Spread of Luxury” model to LVMH’s operations, we first need to see what its sales in Japan and Asia outside Japan are. This is actually a surprisingly difficult question. (Read More)

Examining The Growth Of The Luxury Industry In Asia Through 'The Cult Of The Luxury Brand'

Radhu Chadha and Paul Husband’s book The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s Love Affair With Luxury describes the rise of the luxury industry in Asia.

In the past 40 years, Asia has become the world’s largest market for personal luxury goods such as clothing and jewelry. According to Bain & Company’s Fall-Winter 2016 Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study, Asians bought more than half of all luxury goods in 2016.

Chadha and Husband’s book examines the cultural and economic reasons for Western luxury brands’s popularity in Asia. For example, they argue that the conspicuous wearing of luxury clothing has become a way for Asians to define their position in society. This trend, they say, has been influenced by the significant social changes in Asia in the past half-century.

It is beyond the scope of this article to decide if such broad cultural analyses are correct. However, if they are, there are interesting implications for investment analysis. Chadha and Husband’s key model, based on their cultural analysis, is the “Spread of Luxury” model. According to the model, luxury good consumption in Asian nations passes through five stages based on the nations’ levels of development. If this is true, it opens up a way to project the growth of the luxury industry in Asia. (Read More)