lvhm CEO Bernard Arnault warned on Thursday of a “world catastrophe” if the conflict in the Middle East is not resolved.
His comments came after the Iran war hit demand in the first three months of the year, halving the luxury giant’s sales growth.
“The world is now in a very serious crisis in the Middle East,” the longtime CEO told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Paris.
According to a translation from LVMH, he said, “Either this will be a world disaster with very serious and very negative economic impact – in this case, who can say how 2026 will unfold – or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form, which we all hope, even if it does not seem easy, in that case, businesses will recover and resume their normal course.”
Organic sales at the world’s largest luxury company rose 1% in the first quarter. LVMH said last week that the Middle East conflict had a 1% negative impact on organic growth, effectively halving quarterly growth.
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