Investing in the booming luxury goods sector

Luxury goods may be too expensive for some, but buying shares in their makers may prove a smart investment.

A Brunello Cucinelli cashmere sign sits in front of woven garments displayed for sale at the company's store in Solomeo, near Perugia, Italy, on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. Cucinelli follows competitors Show more

Not everyone can afford a Louis Vuitton handbag or Gucci shoes, but many could profit from the success of the world's luxury goods companies.

All it takes is a smart investment or two in a type of company operating in the luxury sector, some of which are listed, highly lucrative, and expected to flourish even further.

Analysts value the global luxury goods market at about US$300 billion, and growing, driven mainly by big spenders in emerging economies.

"Overall retail growth in 2012 was stronger than in 2011, with luxury goods sales exceeding $302bn worldwide" said Fflur Roberts, the head of luxury goods for Euromonitor International. "This represents a year-on-year real value gain of over 4 per cent on 2011."

Euromonitor expects the sector to grow by the same percentage again this year.

Pictet, a Swiss private bank, launched a premium brands fund in 2005, which has so far invested in 38 companies in the industry.

"The idea of creating a luxury fund, or more generally a premium brands fund, was to have basically a fund investing in companies generating high revenue growth, which is definitely the case of the luxury sector," said Caroline Reyl, the fund manager at Pictet Premium Brands.

"If you look over a long period of time, the luxury sector definitely generates superior growth versus broad consumer goods."

They are also profitable, with higher than average margins than other companies operating in consumer sectors. And many of the companies plough much of the cash they generate back into their businesses, said Ms Reyl.

Companies in Pictet's fund range from large multinational conglomerates to small Italian firms.

Its biggest holding is in the Swatch Group, which owns brands including Breguet and has a stake in the UAE's Rivoli Group, and is up 21 per cent year to date.

Other strong performers include PPR, a French group that owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent, up 27 per cent year to date, and Salvatore Ferragamo, up 28 per cent.

"For some companies it has been an incredibly strong part of the year and I think the reason behind this strong performance is that I think investors realise that the growth in earnings this year again is going to be quite good," said Ms Reyl.

Preliminary data for this year so far suggests that demand for luxury products will be strong, resulting in more earnings growth.

But brands that serve ultra high net worth individuals are particularly worth a look, she suggests.

"These brands are interesting because usually they sell relatively small volumes but at very high prices and given that the amount of high net worth individuals continues to increase globally, we think that those small companies addressing this particular consumer type can do extremely well," she said.

Brunello Cucinelli, an Italian cashmere company that sells sweaters costing upwards of Dh9,000, ticks all the boxes. Its shares are up 31 per cent year to date.

"It is one of those small brands that addresses a very exclusive part of the consumer and we think that particular segment will continue to grow for years to come because by definition they have very small volumes and a small number of stores so they have a lot of room to continue and grow going forward."

Hermès, a brand that targets high net worth individuals, has performed well and will continue to do so, while Prada is also worth a look.

"What we found very interesting already back in 2005 was the exposure of this luxury sector to emerging markets and emerging markets consumers, which are incredibly small as an amount of the consumers for the luxury sector but growing incredibly rapidly," added Ms Reyl.

According to Euromonitor, the top five markets in terms of absolute growth over the next five years will be the United States, China, India, Russia and France, a mixture of established and emerging economies.

But the fastest growing will all be in emerging economies, with India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey, making up the top five markets.

"Prada is a brand which has had tremendous success in Asia in particular amongst Chinese consumers and the momentum of that brand is absolutely amazing. It is one that we definitely believe in," said Ms Reyl.

Many of the companies which target the wealthier consumers also have a presence here in the UAE.

Indeed, the Emirates is becoming an "unavoidable centre" for luxury goods companies.

"When I talk to the management of luxury brands, big brands like Louis Vuitton, always the region which is being mentioned where most openings will happen is the Middle East," said Ms Reyl.

"[A lot of] the development taking place is in the Middle East region, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi in particular."