In France, company results for the first quarter are falling these days. In this context, sales of Hermès, the luxury giant, exceeded analysts’ expectations, despite the confinement in China, the war between Russia and Ukraine and international sanctions against Moscow.
Sales of Hermès jumped 33%, which brought him nearly 2.8 billion euros, this first quarter, compared to last year at the same period.
The French luxury giant, whose core business is leather goods and saddlery, confirms ambitious progress despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties.
Hermes has been the first group to close its three stores in Russia, beginning of March, where he employs 60 people. He has also given up on opening a fourth store in Saint Petersburg. Closures without major consequences, according to him, since Russia represents less than 1% of its sales.
It also no longer sells to Russian oligarchs who are on the sanctioned list and it has no presence in Ukraine.
The luxury giant, on the other hand, has 26 stores in China, some of which are closing and reopening depending on confinements imposed by the country’s “zero Covid” policya major consumer of luxury goods.
In reality, the group’s growth is driven by its sales in America, in particular the United States with a jump of 44%, by Europe including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and by other Asian countries, such as Japan.
Apart from leather goods, sales of clothing and accessories also rose by 44%. Perfumes and beauty products by 18%, watchmaking by 62% and other trades by 37%.
Hermès also plans to open two new leather goods factories in France in 2025 and 2026, with 500 new hires, and three other factories are under construction.