Hermès flies over the luxury market thanks to the increase in its sales

Hermès in Olympus: The luxury group detonated with strong growth results, closing the march of semi-annual publications in the sector which is experiencing a slowdown in sales in the United States and a gradual recovery in China. “Hermès is pulverizing the entire luxury goods industry”: Bernstein bank analyst Luca Solca was full of praise in his note written after the half-year results of the saddler-leather maker published on Friday. The manufacturer's sales of the famous Birkin and Kelly bags and silk scarves climbed 22% over one year to 6.7 billion euros and its profitability reached 44%, a rare level even in the luxury sector where profitability is traditionally very high and where development prospects remain exponential.

Bain and Company estimates that the global market should reach 360 to 380 billion euros in 2023, compared to 345 billion euros in 2022. At the start of the week, it was the world leader in the sector, LVMH with its 75 brands ( Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, Dior...), which announced good results with sales up 15% and profitability of 32.9%. Despite this, Bernard Arnault's group disappointed the financial markets worried about the decline in sales in the United States. “We have a certain slowdown” there, recognized the financial director of LVMH Jean-Jacques Guiony, estimating to be “very clearly a notch below in terms of growth”.

The Swiss Richemont, owner of Cartier, also saw its activity contract by 2% in the Americas zone while sales of the Italian Prada remained stable. “American consumers are curbing their spending due to economic uncertainties and the removal of consumption stimuli from the Covid period,” explained the firm Bain and Company in June in a study on luxury carried out with the Altagamma Foundation. “Against this backdrop, American luxury consumers are focusing their purchases on prestige pieces,” according to Bain and Company.

But Hermès does not seem concerned. “There has been no normalization of demand with us as with others, everything we have produced has been sold”, explained its manager Axel Dumas during a telephone exchange with press agencies. . In fact, the group “targets more resilient high-end consumers”, decodes Luca Solca. It saw its Americas sales increase by 20.7% to 1.2 billion euros. For the other major groups in the sector, the Chinese market has compensated for the American slowdown. “Last year, we had a slowdown in China and we were pulled by the United States. This year, it's a bit the opposite,” explained Jean-Jacques Guiony.

The Chinese market is "returning more slowly than expected but surely", confirmed to AFP the general manager of L'Oréal, Nicolas Hieronimus. The recovery in Asia will not have been enough for Kering, however, whose net profit fell by 10% in the first half, affected by the softness of its flagship brand Gucci. To find new life, Kering will take a 30% stake in the Italian fashion house Valentino. And he had already announced last week a reorganization of his governance and changes at Gucci with a temporary takeover of the brand by the right arm of François-Henri Pinault, Jean-François Palus.

Decisions that do not dispel the vagueness, according to analysts. “At this early stage, management has provided very little clarity on the strategy going forward and the timing of the appointment of a permanent CEO for Gucci, only confirming that its goal is to boost the turnover. affairs of Gucci," analyst Zuzanna Pusz said Friday in a UBS bank note, saying Kering's first-half performance was "weak as expected."