Both companies are still important players in the European and global economy. Where LVMH has the diversification advantage of a broad portfolio of brands and categories (even more so than many of its competitors), Novo Nordisk is reliant on the success of the particular GLP-1 category. However, Novo Nordisk's growth prospects for the next five years indeed exceed those of LVMH. Accordingly, this has been reflected in the share price in recent months. That said, I would not directly equate market capitalisation with the importance or relevance of a company, as this ultimately depends on short-term share price fluctuations and can sometimes be highly volatile. This was particularly evident in the first week of August during the „stock market rollercoaster“.

For all the companies mentioned, I would point to a mixture of the economy and company-specific problems. On the economic side, all companies are in the cyclical normalisation phase after the well-known post-corona boom. On the corporate side, the situation is somewhat more differentiated: Burberry, for example, has been in a „turnaround“ phase for some time, but its execution has so far proved problematic. Swatch and Hugo Boss, on the other hand, reported weaker quarterly figures compared to consensus expectations, both in China and in other countries. However, Hermès, which continues to operate „in a league of its own“, and also posted strong growth of more than 10% in the second quarter, is a different story.

Salary increases have not been able to compensate for the higher level of inflation in all sectors. In addition, we are currently in a situation in which both economic and geopolitical uncertainty prevails. It is, therefore, not surprising that the consumer mood is falling behind. Even Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, has referred to this in an interview. I therefore personally think that we need to see a stabilisation of the overall global situation before there is a significant change in the demand situation.

In my opinion, the unconvincing combination of a falling US Purchasing Managers' Index, stagnating employment figures and disappointing quarterly results from various consumer goods manufacturers in recent days and weeks has illustrated this. In addition, the sometimes significant price increases by luxury companies – experts speak of a cumulative increase of over 30% since 2019 – have led to more customer selectivity. I therefore think that a market recovery will be more gradual than radical.

Not yet – the majority of companies are still talking about weak growth from mainland China. What is encouraging, however, is that some companies are seeing continued growth from Chinese customers, but they are currently buying from Japan due to the favourable currency situation.

India's population and middle class are indeed growing very fast. This can already be seen in some areas of the economy. In the luxury sector, this has so far only been addressed to a limited extent but may, of course, change over time.

Even – and especially – in the current uncertain market situation, we will, of course, remain true to our quality growth investment philosophy. We are therefore continuing to invest in companies with strong quality characteristics (e.g. pricing power, barriers to entry, solid profit margins) for which we expect long-term, double-digit profit growth. In the luxury sector, we favour companies and brands with cult status whose management is capable of maintaining this status in the long term – such as Hermès and LVMH.