Hermes has bagged higher profits after an ‘exceptional’ year thanks to Chinese shoppers snapping up its leather goods.
High Covid infection levels hammered demand for high-end goods in China at the end of last year.
But Axel Dumas, boss of the French luxury design house, said there had continued to be ‘strong desirability’ in China, despite the infection surge.
Chic: The biggest division, leather goods and saddlery sells the Birkin bag (pictured)
Hermes racked up ‘double-digit growth’ in the country, including the fourth quarter, Dumas said.
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, were buoyed by 22 per cent overall. US sales leapt more than 40 per cent.
The group’s overall profits increased 38 per cent to £3.03billion, on sales of £10.32billion. The biggest division, leather goods and saddlery which sells the Birkin bag, grew by a quarter during the period, also surpassing estimates.
Even despite a ‘zero Covid’ policy, Chinese shoppers were swayed by European designer goods with a cost-of-living crisis not felt as sorely in Asia as in Europe, Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said.
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