LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Paris, the world’s leading luxury products group, reported 2003 third quarter “organic” sales growth (using a comparable structure and constant exchange rates) of 6%. For the first nine months of 2003, “organic” sales grew 3% to approximately $9.6 million.

“This performance reflects the exceptional appeal of LVMH brands and products, which continued to increase their market share, the success of the Group strategy and the effectiveness of the teams who succeeded in achieving improved results despite a difficult economic environment,” the company said in a statement.

Since June, watches and jewelry has benefited from a global recovery in the market along with a return on the investment made in communications and product innovation over the first half of the year, the company said. Organic sales grew by 8% in the third quarter, with particularly strong contributions from Montres, Christian Dior, and Zenith, the company said. However, for the first nine months of 2003, organic sales for jewelry and watches fell 13% to $394 million from the previous year.

LVMH says it expects to continue to achieve sales growth over the remainder of the year because of increase tourism and signs of a sustained economic recovery in the US and Japan.

JCK