Sales at Birkin bag maker Hermes rose 23% in the first quarter, above market expectations, as wealthy shoppers in China and Europe splurged on luxury fashion and accessories despite higher prices and global market turmoil.
Sales for the three months ending in March came to 3.38 billion euros. The increase of 23%, at constant exchange rates, beat a Visible Alpha consensus of 15% growth.
Hermes finance chief Eric du Halgouet told journalists store traffic in the United States, where rival LVMH earlier this week flagged softer demand for fashion and leather goods, continued to rise and trends in April remained positive.
"What we're seeing in the United States is globally an increase in (store) traffic, the trends we've seen in April remain favorable, with, again, very dynamic traffic," he said.
"We obviously remain vigilant as far as macro trends are concerned... but we have not seen a slowdown so far."
Hermes raised prices by around 7% at the start of the year, a higher rate than its usual 2-3% annual increase.
