Chinese shoppers boost Hermes
French luxury goods maker Hermes saw good demand over the Chinese New Year, the company said yesterday, underscoring its resilience to a crackdown on illicit gift-giving in the industry’s biggest market that has hit some rivals hard. Posting a nine per cent rise in 2013 operating profit, the maker of Birkin handbags and printed silk scarves also shrugged off the impact of the current political crisis in Ukraine on Russian shoppers. Net profit rose 6.8 per cent to €790m last year.