Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Orange… What are the most valued French brands?

French luxury companies are still popular. Louis Vuitton is the most valuable French brand in 2024, for the third consecutive year, according to the Brand Finance France 150 ranking, revealed this Thursday, May 23. The flagship of the LVMH group, the brand is valued at 30.1 billion euros, up 19% in one year, the value indicated in the ranking being understood “as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would obtain by licensing the brand in a free market.

In the French top 10, there are four other luxury brands. Valued at 24.3 billion euros (30%), Chanel is in second place. Further on, we find Hermès (5th; 15.6 billion), Dior (8E; 13.7 billion) and Cartier (10th; 12.7 billion). In the rest of the top ranking, we also find the operator Orange (3rd; 18.9 billion), the oil group TotalEnergies (4th; 15.9 billion), the insurer Axa (6th; 15.5 billion), the aircraft manufacturer Airbus (7th; 15.1 billion) and EDF (9th; 13.4 billion).

In total, the 150 largest French brands reached a valuation of 507 billion euros in 2024, or 33 billion euros compared to 2023. With 45% in value in one year (to 1.2 billion euros ), Edenred recorded the strongest growth over one year, followed by Darty (38%) and Kenzo (36%). On average, the growth in the valuation of these 150 French brands was 6%, higher than that of our neighbors, notably German (5%) and British (-1%).

The brand strength index, on the other hand, fell by 0.6 points compared to -0.4 in the United Kingdom and -0.1 in Germany. This index measures “the effectiveness of a brand’s performance […] compared to its competitors,” explains Brand Finance. In terms of brand strength, the top of the ranking is also dominated by luxury, with Chanel (1st; 88.9), Dior (2nd; 87.4), Hermès (4th; 87) and Louis Vuitton (5th; 86.9 ). The sports brand Decathlon is also in third place, with a brand strength index of 87.3.

The decline in the strength of French brands while their valuation is increasing is “worrying”, according to Bertrand Chovet, managing director of Brand Finance France, who sees it as a sign of a “progressive erosion of the competitiveness of French brands”. “If this remains dependent on each category of activity, this demonstrates a slowdown in investments in brands, a deterioration in the image of brands and therefore in the performance of major French brands compared to global competition.”

And even if the valuation of French brands is progressing, the gap is widening with the rest of the world ranking. “Over the last four years, the average value of the 100 most valuable French brands has grown half as fast as the 100 most valuable global brands,” notes Brand Finance. The average of brand strength indices has “increased twelve times less quickly”.

In the ranking of the 500 most valuable brands in the world, unveiled last January, Louis Vuitton only came in 52nd position. If the French podium is occupied by luxury, it is rather the Tech giants which are doing well at the global level: Apple is 1st with 516.6 billion dollars in valuation, followed by Microsoft (340.4 billion) , Google (333.4 billion), Amazon (308.9 billion) and Samsung (99.4 billion).