LVMH opened 2026 with resilient momentum in beauty and retail, posting €19.1 billion in first-quarter revenue and delivering stable performance in a geopolitically fractured environment shaped in part by disruption in the Middle East. While group organic growth edged up 1%, the Perfumes & Cosmetics division stood out for its stability, holding flat organically despite headwinds, reinforcing its role as a defensive yet innovation-driven pillar of the luxury portfolio.
In beauty, the message was consistency through creativity. The Perfumes & Cosmetics business group maintained a highly selective retail strategy while continuing to lean on blockbuster innovation across its maisons. Parfums Christian Dior delivered a strong contribution, driven by launches such as J’adore Intense and new Dior Addict eau de parfum extensions, alongside momentum in high perfumery with La Collection Privée and its new Cuir Saddle fragrance. Makeup franchises like Forever and Backstage also added incremental lift, underscoring Dior’s ability to balance fragrance heritage with modern beauty ecosystems.
Guerlain similarly posted strong growth, propelled by its high-end fragrance universe L’Art & La Matière and the continued success of Aqua Allegoria, while its Rouge G lipstick reaffirmed its status as a core prestige makeup pillar. At the same time, niche and artisanal houses continued to scale selectively: Maison Francis Kurkdjian expanded its Oud universe, Acqua di Parma marked its 110th anniversary with sustained desirability, and Parfums Givenchy extended the reach of L’Interdit across global markets.
But the clearest structural engine remains selective retailing—and within it, Sephora continues to define category momentum. Sephora delivered solid revenue growth across all regions, gaining further market share and consolidating its position as the global leader in prestige beauty retail. Expansion in the United Kingdom proved particularly strong, underscoring the brand’s continued ability to translate experiential retail, curated assortments, and digital integration into sustained traffic and conversion gains even in uneven consumer conditions.
As DFS restructures parts of its travel retail footprint in greater China and the U.S. market, Sephora’s trajectory highlights a broader shift within LVMH: beauty growth is increasingly being anchored by control of the consumer interface. In a luxury landscape marked by geopolitical volatility and shifting tourism flows, Sephora’s omnichannel retail model is emerging as one of the group’s most consistent engines of geographic and category expansion.
