PARIS (AFP) – French luxury group Hermes posted yesterday a jump in third-quarter sales, bucking the overall gloom in the sector caused by falling sales in China.
The luxury house, famous for its leather bags and silk scarves, saw overall sales rising 10 per cent to EUR3.7 billion (USD4.0 billion) in the July to September period.
China is the world’s biggest spender in the luxury sector, accounting for half of global sales. But as its post-pandemic recovery falters, consumption has flagged, sending jitters through the industry.
“Hermes stands out from other big groups,” Hermes’ Chief Financial Officer Eric du Halgouet told journalists.
Its main competitors, the world’s top luxury group LVMH and Kering (Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent) have both reported falling third quarter sales, drops of 4.4 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
In Hermes’ greater China region the “there was no reversal in the trend” of sales growth, said du Halgouet. The greater Asia region, which excludes Japan, posted 0.6 per cent quarterly growth “despite the downturn in traffic in Greater China observed since the end of the Chinese New Year, and a high base in the third-quarter last year”, the company said in a statement.
Hermes also recently opened a 1,000-square-metre boutique in Shenzen and has plans to open two others in Shenyang and Beijing.
The luxury group saw double-digit sales gains in its other major markets, including an 11 per cent rise in the Americas and 18 per cent increases in Europe and Japan.
Du Halgouet said that sales in these regions were continuing at the same tempo as the fourth quarter got underway in October.
Sales of leather goods, Hermes’s top segment, rose by 12.7 per cent to EUR1.57 billion. Clothing and accessories rose by 12.1 per cent to EUR1.13 billion.
While CEO Axel Dumas evoked in a Financial Times interview the possiblity of Hermes launching into haute couture, du Halgouet said it wasn’t a project for the company in the short term but which could be added to the group’s overall strategy.
