Profits from LVMH’s wine-and-spirits business tumbled by 34% last year, the Hennessy Cognac maker has said.

The profit from recurring operations from the division, also home to brands including Glenmorangie whisky, fell 36% to €1.36bn ($1.41bn) in 2024.

Revenues from wine and spirits were down 11% year on year and by 8% on an organic basis.

The unit saw revenues decline at the same rates during the first nine months of the year.

LVMH said the 36% drop in profit was “notably due to exchange-rate fluctuations”.

The luxury-goods giant said the “normalisation of demand” it said started in 2023 continued last year.

It pointed to a “slowdown in consumption”, as well as a “more challenging market environment in China”.

The company said its revenues from Cognac were “held back by weaker local demand”. Like other Cognac producers, LVMH had been battling slow demand in China, one of the two principal export markets for the product.

LVMH’s Champagne portfolio, which includes Moët & Chandon, “maintained their market share of more than 22% of all Champagne-appellation shipments”, the company added.

Last week, trade body Comité Champagne said Champagne sales volumes fell by more than 9% last year, declining at home and abroad.

Group-wide, LVMH saw its revenue decrease 2% to €84.68bn last year. Profit from recurring operations declined 14% to €19.57bn. Net profit was down 17% at €12.55bn.

In November, LVMH faced staff protests in Cognac amid a proposal to bottle Cognac in China.

The company said it was looking at options to manage the tariffs China had introduced on brandy imports from the EU.

After demonstrations by workers, LVMH then put the idea on ice, according to union officials.