LVMH CEO says sales growth speeds up in Q1

PARIS - French luxury giant LVMH saw sales growth accelerate in the first three months of this year from the last quarter of 2011, Chief Executive Bernard Arnault told its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.

The CEO reaffirmed his "relative confidence" for the world's biggest luxury goods group in 2012, given continued strong growth in emerging markets and the fact the company exports almost 80 percent of production.

"In the first quarter, growth was above what it was in the last quarter of last year," Arnault said.