France’s luxury giants were among the companies affected by violent riots that damaged at least 3,000 shops over the weekend according to Euronews, with shares of LVMH, Kering and Hermès falling as European stocks and government bonds sold off.
LVMH (EPA:MC), the parent company of Louis Vuitton and Dior, fell 1.4% on Monday, while Kering (EPA:KER), which owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, dropped 0.9%. Hermès (EPA:RMS) shares also declined early in the session before recovering by the close.
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All three stocks were lower by Thursday. LVMH was down 2.3% since last Friday, before the riots, while Kering and Hermès fell 1.6% and 3.6%, respectively, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Several luxury boutiques were damaged or looted during the riots. The Financial Times reported that stores operated by Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Dior and Burberry were among those affected.
In Marseille, a Louis Vuitton boutique was burglarized, while an AlphaValue analyst cited by MarketScreener reported extensive damage to roughly a dozen luxury stores along Paris’s Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, including Dior and Balenciaga.
The damage extended beyond luxury retailers. French supermarket giant Carrefour (EPA:CA) reported damage to 50 stores, including 20 that were looted, according to Euronews. Its stock fell more than 2% on Monday.
Insurers also saw their shares fall amid concerns about the cost of covering the damage. French insurer AXA (EPA:CS) fell 1.3%, while reinsurer SCOR (EPA:SCR) lost 0.9%. In Italy, Generali (BIT:G) dropped 2.3% and Unipol (BIT:UNI) shed 3.2%.
Euronews reported that authorities arrested more than 2,400 people during the unrest. Retail industry representatives initially estimated losses at several hundred million euros, although the final cost remains unknown.
The selling spread beyond individual companies. Major stock indexes in France, the U.K. and Spain fell more than 1%.
French riots add to fears over mounting government debt
The unrest comes as lawmakers struggle to agree on a budget to reduce France’s mounting deficit. As Al Jazeera and Reuters reported, the protests began over deteriorating school conditions before expanding into broader demonstrations over the cost of living and proposed government spending cuts.
