Yachts: Luxury afloat

In rough economic seas look for a safe harbour. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton seems to have taken the adage literally. The world’s largest purveyor of luxury goods is buying Royal van Lent, a Dutch maker of super yachts. At a reported E300m, the deal is small for a company with E36bn market capitalisation. But it’s smart strategy. The moderately rich may be feeling seasick, but selling boats at $50m a pop should be plain sailing.The latest word from Gucci Group and Hermes is that luxury is st...