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Sales at Hermès grew 9 per cent at constant exchange rates to €3.9 billion in the second quarter of 2025, the company said on Wednesday, in line with analyst expectations. This marks an acceleration compared with the first quarter, when sales were up 7 per cent.
By category, leather goods and saddlery was up 14.8 per cent; ready-to-wear and accessories up 3.8 per cent; silk and textiles up 2.2 per cent; and other Hermès sectors, including jewellery and home products, up 14.9 per cent. Perfume and beauty slipped 7.2 per cent, while watch sales were down 5.5 per cent.
The French luxury house announced price increases in the US on 1 May to offset the impact of the new 10 per cent import tariffs.
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The fact that higher value leather goods continue to lead growth for Hermès is a sign that the aspirational end of the market remains difficult, said Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca.
Hermès executive chair Axel Dumas confirmed this on a call with analysts on Wednesday. “The traffic-driven clientele that starts with silk, belts and perfumes is slightly smaller, as there are global concerns leading to a trend of rising savings rates. So the aspirational clientele is visiting stores less frequently,” he said. “Fortunately, Hermès benefits from a very loyal customer base, which allows us to hold up well in this maelstrom. This is reflected in the high-value métiers: leather goods, jewellery and women’s ready-to-wear are experiencing very strong growth.”
By region, Hermès reported a solid performance in the Americas (sales up 12.3 per cent), Europe excluding France (up 12.6 per cent), and “Other” including the Middle East (up 20.4 per cent), while Asia-Pacific excluding Japan was up 5.2 per cent. France was up 4.1 per cent — slowing from 14.2 per cent growth in the first quarter. “This seems in large part due to diminishing tourist flows in recent months,” Solca noted. Dumas confirmed less tourist flows from the Middle East in June. “I’m not at all worried about France. There’s no change in the trend on the structural front, but we’re certainly experiencing some comparative effects, which have been a little more difficult in Q2,” Dumas said.
While most luxury players saw red in Japan due to the strengthening of the yen, Hermès has held up well, with sales up 14.7 per cent. Dumas attributed the performance to the house’s rich history in Japan and consistent investments, notably in the store network, which paid off with the local clientele. ”We’ve perhaps had fewer tourist customers than others, who’ve come looking for cheaper prices,” he added.
In the US, Hermès increased its prices in May to offset the impact of 10 per cent import tariffs. In reference to the 15 per cent US tariffs on European imports from Europe, announced on 27 July, Dumas said: “We’re waiting for more details… For the moment, we do not foresee any change.”
Companies saw steep gains in the stock market on Wednesday, after Trump backed down on aggressive tariffs with one exception: China.
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Solca said Hermès’s profit margin in the first half was “once again well ahead of expectations, with 41.4 per cent [of revenue] against consensus of 40.7 per cent”. “We expect consensus 2025 sales of €16.3 billion [up 10 per cent] and an EBIT of €6.52 billion [up 6 per cent] to remain unchanged,” wrote Citi managing director Thomas Chauvet.
Hermès’s numbers compare favourably against other luxury players: LVMH reported a 4 per cent sales decrease in the second quarter, dragged down by its fashion and leather goods division, which fell 9 per cent. Kering sales are down 15 per cent, with Gucci down 25 per cent. Richemont reported sales up 6 per cent in the quarter ended 30 June (propped up by its jewellery maisons, which rose 11 per cent). Burberry’s like-for-like sales were down 1 per cent. Moncler Group’s sales also slipped 1 per cent in Q2. Prada Group is reporting its numbers on Wednesday; HSBC estimates sales will be up 10 per cent.
Asked by an analyst why Hermès didn’t buy the original Birkin bag at the Sotheby’s auction (it went under the hammer on 10 July for $10 million), Dumas replied: “We just didn’t feel like it. We’re not interested in, nor do we participate in, the secondhand market.” He noted that Jane Birkin had initially sold it for a charity project.
Elaborating on his mistrust of the secondhand category, he added: “Speculation [buying assets with the sole aim of profiting from short-term price movements] is never good. I prefer the regular economy to speculation. I’m quite proud and happy that our prices are based on manufacturing costs and not on desire… I believe that the authenticity and trust that we try to have with our customers play a part in the success of Hermès. The negative side of speculation is that we sometimes have fake customers who come into our stores to buy bags and resell them, preventing us from dealing with our real customers. This is a real worry for us; I’m not at all happy to see this development of new bags being sold secondhand, and so I sulk and we don’t participate in the secondhand market.”
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