it had bounced back far more quickly than expected in early 2021.

LVMH shares were up by 2.7% in early session trading, hitting new record levels, and also lifting up the shares of rival luxury goods companies such as Kering and Hermes.

Late on Tuesday, LVMH posted first-quarter revenues that even exceeded 2019 levels, before the pandemic.

Its like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of currency changes and its acquisition of U.S. jeweller Tiffany, rose by 30% year-on-year in the three months to March to 14 billion euros ($16.75 billion).

"LVMH noted that Q1 was a 'good start to the year', but to us this is much better than 'good' and will once again stand as an absolute outperformance vs the rest of the sector," wrote JP Morgan in a research note.

LVMH shares are up by around 20% since the start of 2021.