Sales at Hermès grew 6.7% at constant exchange rates to €4.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, the company said on Wednesday, roughly aligning with analyst expectations.
This marks a slight acceleration compared with the first quarter, driven mainly by faster growth in France, Japan, and the Middle East. (As a reminder, Hermès missed Q1 expectations by 1.4%, up 5.6% year-on-year; a deceleration versus Q4 2025, which sent stock down 12%.) EBIT margin in the first half of 2026 came in at 41%, above consensus expectations of 40.4%. Still, Hermès stock was down 7.5% in Wednesday morning trading.
The luxury house continues to outperform the industry in the first half of 2026, albeit at a slower pace than in 2025. On Monday, LVMH reported group sales up 3%, with its fashion division up 1%, and on Tuesday, Kering said it returned to growth (up 2% to €3.65 billion), with Gucci’s sales decline narrowing to 2%. Richemont continued to defy the odds, with sales up 20% to €6.3 billion in its Q1.
By category, Hermès’s leather goods and saddlery was up 10.2% in the second quarter; ready-to-wear and accessories up 3.6%; silk and textiles up 12.2%; and other Hermès sectors, including jewelry and home, up 4%. Meanwhile, watch sales were up 4.4%, but perfume and beauty slipped 9.5%. “There is a difference between perfume and beauty: beauty is doing well and perfume is doing well in our stores, but outside our stores is more complicated. I think we need to work on it,” executive chair Axel Dumas explained.
Asked about the impact of the wildfires in southwest France on production — Hermès has two leather goods factories in Gironde — Dumas said: “Our leather goods workshops were far enough away from the fires, so our production facilities have not been affected. However, the people have been deeply impacted. Some of our employees in our factory near Fontainebleau [outside Paris, which was affected by a separate wildfire earlier in July] went to help evacuate horses. Others, particularly our employees in Gironde, were not personally affected but had family members who had to evacuate. Our thoughts are very much with them.”
