PARIS: French luxury goods maker Hermes, known for $10,000-plus leather handbags such as the Birkin, rewarded shareholders on Wednesday with a higher dividend and a one-off payout after a bumper year for sales and profits.
The company, originally a saddle and harness maker founded in 1837, joined luxury rivals such as Louis Vuitton-owner LVMH and Gucci-parent Kering in benefiting from a rebound in demand from Asian shoppers in 2017.
Hermes shares rose 3.2 percent in early trade after the firm proposed a dividend of €4.10 ($5.03) per share, up 9 percent on a year earlier, and said it also planned a special dividend of €5 per share.
It last made a one-off payout in 2015.
Hermes also reported a record operating margin for last year, reaching 34.6 percent of sales and helped by high productivity at its workshops and the positive impact of currency hedges in the first half of 2017.
“We had an exceptional year in 2017,” CEO Axel Dumas told a briefing with analysts.
Dumas said that hedging against foreign exchange swings would have a slightly negative effect on margins this year, adding these would likely “normalize.” European-based luxury goods firms are grappling with the effects of a stronger euro.
Stocks of Hermes products ran very low at the end of 2017 as items sold out, a situation that was also atypical and which boosted margins, the company said, without detailing a forecast for 2018.
Hermes’ operating margin was 32.6 percent in 2016.
Sales trends in early 2018 had continued the positive momentum of last year, Dumas added.
Hermes, which has long waiting lists for some of its most coveted handbags, is expanding production to keep up with demand, and plans two more leather goods workshops by 2020 in France.
Like peers, it is looking to boost online sales, though it declined to detail how much revenue came from the web. Hermes is rolling out a revamped version of its website, due shortly in Europe after launching in the US and Canada.
By the end of the year, it also plans to set up its first e-commerce site in China, the biggest market for luxury players. Italy’s Gucci and France’s Louis Vuitton launched web sales platforms in China last year.
Hermes’ 2017 operating income was €1.92 billion ($2.36 billion), up 13 percent from a year earlier and in line with analyst forecasts, while net profit rose 11 percent to €1.22 billion.
Hermes boosts dividend as luxury industry thrives
Hermes boosts dividend as luxury industry thrives
Work suspended on Riyadh’s massive Mukaab megaproject: Reuters
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has suspended planned construction of a colossal cube-shaped skyscraper at the center of a downtown development in Riyadh while it reassesses the project's financing and feasibility, four people familiar with the matter said.
The Mukaab was planned as a 400-meter by 400-meter metal cube containing a dome with an AI-powered display, the largest on the planet, that visitors could observe from a more than 300-meter-tall ziggurat — or terraced structure —inside it.
Its future is now unclear, with work beyond soil excavation and pilings suspended, three of the people said. Development of the surrounding real estate is set to continue, five people familiar with the plans said.
The sources include people familiar with the project's development and people privy to internal deliberations at the PIF.
Officials from PIF, the Saudi government and the New Murabba project did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Real estate consultancy Knight Frank estimated the New Murabba district would cost about $50 billion — roughly equivalent to Jordan’s GDP — with projects commissioned so far valued at around $100 million.
Initial plans for the New Murabba district called for completion by 2030. It is now slated to be completed by 2040.
The development was intended to house 104,000 residential units and add SR180 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP, creating 334,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030, the government had estimated previously.
(With Reuters)
