What really impressed me as I looked into some financial reports of 2023 is the surprising parallel between the revenue trends of a giant like LVMH Wines & Spirits and numerous smaller Italian wineries. Despite their luxury drinks and market strength, LVMH faced a challenging year with a 7% drop in revenue to 6.6 billion euros.
The start of the year looked good for LVMH, with +3% growth in the first quarter. However, the momentum didn’t last, with a -4% decline in the first half of the year, worsening to a -10% drop in the third quarter, and ending with a -7% overall decrease by year’s end.
It’s not just LVMH that saw this pattern; smaller, family-owned wineries across Italy experienced the same thing. This shows that last year was tough for everyone in the wine business, no matter how big they were.
This has me wondering: have you seen this kind of trend in the wine industry too?? I’m curious to hear if your experiences reflect this shared downturn.
PS: It is interesting to note that on the Italian stock exchange (Milan), only two Italian wine companies are listed: Masi Agricola and International Wine Brand.