6:00PM New York – 12:00AM Paris – First quarter revenue at LVMH gained but at Accor fell. Tesco earnings gained 12%.

LVMH Moet Hennessy reported first quarter sales rise of 5% to €4.02 billion from €3.8 billion a year ago. Organic revenue rose 12%, excluding the impact of exchange rates. Wines & Spirit sales declined 7%, fashion and leather goods sales rose 7%, perfumes and cosmetics increased 8%, watches and jewelry gained 12%, and brand retailing rose 8%.

Accor SA, largest European hotel operator, reported sales decline of 5.1% to €1.79 billion or increase of 4.8% when currency fluctuations are excluded. Hotel revenues fell 2.8% to €1.286 billion and service revenue increased 9.5% to €227 million.

Economy hotels revenue outside the United States increased by 5.3% or 6.8% when adjusted for the earlier Easter vacation. In France, economy hotels revenue increased 4.9% like-for-like on the back of a strong performance at Ibis and a 6.8% increase in revenue per available room.

The shift in the Easter vacation calendar also had a significant impact in the major European countries. In Germany, revenue declined by 0.2% but increased by 5.6% when adjusted for the earlier vacation. In the United Kingdom, revenue rose by 7.0% like-for-like and by 11.3% excluding the calendar effect.

Tesco, the largest UK retailer with more than 30% market share in UK grocery sales, reported fiscal 2008 earnings increase of 12% to £2.12 billion from £1.89 billion. The third largest European retailer sales increased 11% to £42.64 billion excluding value added tax in the year. Tesco operates nearly 2,000 stores in UK and operates another 1,320 stores in Eastern Europe, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea. In the fiscal year Tesco paid dividend of 10.9p compared to 9.64p in fiscal 2007.