LVMH's Moet Hennessy to cut workforce by 10%, FT reports
LVMH group's wine and spirits business Moet Hennessy will shrink its workforce by more than 10%, about 1,200 employees, the Financial Times has reported, citing an internal video message from the division's CEO, Jean-Jacques Guiony.
Guiony and his deputy, Alexandre Arnault, son of LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, told staff at Moet Hennessy this week that they planned to cut the workforce back to 2019 levels, the newspaper said, adding that a timeline for the job cuts was not immediately known.
Organic sales at Moet Hennessy, LVMH's weakest division, dropped 9% in the first quarter, hit by a slump in its key US and Chinese markets. This dragged other sectors of the luxury goods empire, which encompasses brands from Louis Vuitton to Moet & Chandon.
"While Moët-Hennessy's business has returned to its 2019 level, Moët-Hennessy announced yesterday its intention to adjust its organisation and gradually return to its 2019 staffing levels, primarily by managing its natural turnover and not filling vacant positions," LVMH said, according to the FT report.
Alexandre Arnault, who has links with U.S. President Donald Trump's family, was assigned the job of helping turn around the group's wine and spirits business in November 2024, a task that could be more difficult now, as 20% reciprocal tariffs imposed by Trump on all European Union goods could have an impact on the company.
Last month, the French wine and spirits exporters group said that the sales of French wine and spirits were expected to slide in the US following Trump's tariff announcement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Overly bureaucratic policies to encourage entrepreneurship need to be reviewed
US president Trump's tariffs merry-go-round continues to dominate global headlines. Firms are weary of the oscillation between 'tariffs-on' and 'tariffs-off' — but this pattern shows no sign of abating. It's a truism at this stage, but uncertainty has become the new normal. Understandably, there is concern among Irish policymakers, and indeed the general public, as to what the new economic dispensation will mean for Ireland's FDI-led economic model. FDI companies operating in Ireland deeply value their presence here and the contribution this has made to their business. Many companies have invested heavily in Ireland and dismantling investment of this nature and locating it somewhere else is not easily done, even if firms were minded to do so. And though we don't detect any appetite of this nature in the market there is an issue, however, in relation to further growth of Ireland's stock of FDI in future. The continuing uncertainty is having an impact on firms' investment decisions as they look to incorporate a 'wait-and-see' approach. In this context, it is important to look at Ireland's capability to continue to deliver economic and employment growth in a (still hypothetical) world where the level of FDI is lower than it has been. The health and prosperity of our homegrown businesses will be vitally important in this scenario. Ireland has a track record of generating world-beating businesses, but the reality is the current policy environment is not calibrated to achieve our full potential in this area. Successive governments have sought to introduce various policies to foster more entrepreneurship. Adjustments are made year-to-year across budgets, but the day-to-day reality has been that the design of some of these schemes is not suitable to achieve the desired ends. Tax practitioners like myself and my colleagues are seeing this on a regular basis as we seek to help clients utilise these schemes. KEEP scheme Take the KEEP scheme for example. This is designed to enable companies to grant share options to employees on a tax-efficient basis, essentially so the share is taxed within the capital gains bracket rather than the income tax bracket. Granting share options to employees is a good way of supplementing their remuneration in an environment where large firms with deep pockets are competing for the same talent. The issue with KEEP, unfortunately, is it is not working in practice; take-up is extremely low. What we see in our practice is that firms will tend to opt for so-called 'unapproved' share schemes rather than KEEP, even though the unapproved schemes are taxed more heavily from the perspective of the employee. Why are they doing this? The biggest reason we can see is the limit that attaches to the total value of share options that can be issued to an individual employee (€300,000). There is also a limit of €6m on the total amount of share options that can be issued (across all employees) and unexercised at any point in time. These limits restrict firms' ability to offer really competitive packages across their companies. Instead, they are opting for unapproved schemes that mean employees can be offered a higher value of share options, albeit in a less tax-efficient manner. The UK equivalent of KEEP, which has much less red tape attached, works much better, and the Government should look to draw lessons from it. Angel investor scheme On March 1, the Government commenced the new angel investor relief scheme which aims to incentivise investment in startups by reducing capital gains tax to 16%-18% on the sale by angel investors of these investments. It is early days, but we are not optimistic for take-up. Again, there is a lot of administration work involved for the small firms that are the targeted beneficiaries. They need to hold two certificates, showing they are an innovative company that is a going concern, and obtaining these involves an application process which many companies would need to undertake. In addition, investment by family members, a common source of funding for early-stage companies, has restrictions attached. Taken together, we believe these will serve as a significant brake on uptake of this scheme. A relaxation of the restrictions on family members and a self-declaration process allowing firms to obtain the qualifying certificates would be preferable. Another way to increase take-up would be to allow the relief to apply where investment is directed towards follow-on or expansion funding, rather than simply angel investment. The above are two examples of how Ireland's policy regime could be enhanced to encourage more entrepreneurship. There are others, including changes to the oft-criticised entrepreneur's relief scheme. We know we have a fantastic, knowledgeable, skilled and talented workforce. We are lucky to have it. But at a time like now, when the outlook for growth in FDI is hazy, it's important that we consider how to drive homegrown businesses forward. In this regard, a wholesale government review of policies towards entrepreneurship is warranted. Brendan Murphy is a tax partner at Baker Tilly Ireland
The Irish Sun
12 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Major car brand ‘plotting return' of discontinued model that starred in iconic James Bond scene 46 years ago
A MAJOR brand could bring back a discontinued model which appeared in an iconic James Bond scene. Citroen is biding its time over whether to bring back the iconic retro Advertisement It earned its stripes as a French economy car and is recognised for revitalising post-war France. 4 Citroen looks set to revive and modernise the iconic retro 2CV Credit: Marc and David @ Continental Productions 4 The iconic car is seen here in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only Credit: Eon Productions The 2CV was nicknamed Deux Chevaux, translating to "two horses" referring to its tax horsepower rating. The 2CV featured in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only in a scene where Bond jumps into the passenger seat of co-star Melina Havelock's yellow car, heading off the twisty mountain roads, while Hector Gonzalez's men give chase in a pair of Peugeot 504 sedans. Bond eventually takes the wheel and the car enjoys a bone-rattling climax that sees it hurtling through olive trees. Advertisement read more in motors He then crisscrosses the road, before jumping over a pursuing Peugeot and bumping its offside-rear wheel on the sedan's roof. The scene was filmed in Corfu over 12 days and the car was one of several 2CVs used in the filming. While four are known to have survived filming, at least two were scrapped when production ended. 'We have a very, very strong heritage, one of the richest in the car industry,' then-Citroen boss Thierry Koskas told Advertisement Most read in Uncategorized Exclusive 'We have the 2CV, the "I absolutely agree that one of the big strengths of European brands is their heritage. The first-ever all-electric MINI JCW Aceman 'On the product side, we are not taking it as a general direction to do retro design. "But I do not exclude that maybe we study and [have] some exploration, we are open to look at that. Advertisement "But at Citroen you will not see all the future cars reminding you of previous models. 'You will have people that value a design that is close to a car they used to love in the past. This is the debate. 'But there have been successes and failures in [automotive] revivals. "Some fail because [companies] don't position the car properly, they seem retro but aren't really, or customers don't really like the car or recognise their love story. Advertisement "So if we were to do it, we would have to be very, very careful and cautious about how we did it.' 4 Prototypes for the car were kept hidden away during WW2 Credit: Alamy 4 The car became extremely popular after featuring on the movie Credit: Getty
The Irish Sun
14 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Elon Musk has PTSD & made a MISTAKE by helping Trump, his dad claims as he reveals verdict on what caused explosive feud
ELON Musk has "White House PTSD" and thinks he made a mistake by helping Trump get reelected, his dad has claimed. 9 Errol Musk claims his son Elon has 'PTSD from the White House' Credit: East2West 9 Musk Snr also believes the Tesla boss regrets helping Trump get reelected Credit: Reuters 9 Errol is currently in Moscow to appear at a Kremlin-backed forum Credit: East2West 9 Elon reportedly donated $288 million to Trump's 2024 campaign Credit: AFP It comes just days after his billionaire son's high-profile alliance with the US President imploded in a fierce online feud. The world's richest man — who reportedly donated $288 million to Trump's 2024 campaign and briefly served as a White House aide — has now turned on the president over his sweeping tax and spending bill. Elon even claimed on X that Trump was tied to disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Their bromance is now beyond repair. Read more on Elon and Trump On Sunday, Trump confirmed to NBC that he has no interest in making amends: 'I would assume so, yeah,' he said when asked if their relationship was over. 'I have no intention of speaking to him.' Now, the Tesla and SpaceX boss is said to be grappling with regret and fatigue from his turbulent stint in Washington. Musk Snr told Putin-controlled media: 'So at the moment, Elon is inclined to say that he's made a mistake.' 'Trump will prevail. He's the president, he was elected as the president. Most read in The US Sun 'Elon made a mistake, I think, but he's tired, he's stressed. He added: 'Five months of continuous stress, continuous, continuous stress, stress, stress. Trump crushes 'peace talk' hopes with Musk as he insists Elon has 'lost his mind' and 'vows to get rid of his Tesla' 'And then in the end, it's just him and Trump left… They still don't know what to do, so they fight with each other until they can come to normal conditions.' The South African businessman likened the split to a "marriage going wrong" and suggested his son was out of depth in the brutal political arena. He told Russian outlet Izvestia: 'It happens in marriages, it happens in partnerships, it happens a lot . 'And people have to understand that at the moment, Elon is having second thoughts... 'He's not a great politician, he is still learning, he's a great tech innovator and so forth. 'But his politics is, as I've said before, is a swimming pool with no bottom, it's a swimming pool with no sides. 'When you're in a swimming pool of politics, you've got to really know where to go. 'And he [Elon] doesn't realise that.' 9 Errol made the explosive claims on Putin-controlled media in Russia Credit: East2West 9 He said his son had a very stressful five months Credit: East2West Errol added that Elon had been trying to "get everything right" with a recent bill, but clashed with Trump over what he saw as excessive Democratic spending concessions. 'But unfortunately, he doesn't realise that in order to get their votes in the Senate and the Congress, Trump has to do that,' he said. 'They are the only two people left in the arena… and they took to each other, which is understandable.' Errol's comments were made to Tsargrad TV — owned by Konstantin Malofeev, a businessman with alleged links to Russian military intelligence. He praised Moscow, saying: 'Whoever designed this city is a true genius. These majestic buildings remind me of Ancient Rome.' He also dismissed Western portrayals of the Russian capital as 'nonsense.' 9 Trump and Musk's bromance fell through in a spectacular public feud online Credit: AFP 9 The feud erupted over Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' which proposed stripping billions in government subsidies from Tesla Credit: AP Errol will speak at the Future Forum 2050, organised by Malofeev and Putin ideologist and 'philosopher' Alexander Dugin. Meanwhile, Russia appears eager to capitalize on Musk's estrangement from the US political elite. Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev cheekily offered to mediate peace talks between 'D and E' — Trump and Elon— 'for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment.' Another Kremlin loyalist, ex-space chief Dmitry Rogozin, publicly offered Musk asylum. 'You are respected in Russia. If you encounter insurmountable problems in the US, come to us and become one of us,' Rogozin wrote. Russia would offer him 'reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity'. 9
