Hermès International Société en commandite par actions (RMS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Good morning, everybody. I would like to thank you for joining us for the report of the H1 2021 results. I would like to thank the employees of the group all over the world for their courage, their solidarity and their creativity that they have shown in an unprecedented situation. The exceptional performance of Hermès at the beginning of the year illustrates the resilience and the solidity of our model. In these difficult times, it is important to keep our optimism and the entrepreneurial spirit. During this crisis, we have maintained all our strategic investments and a strong creation. At Hermès, the people are at the heart of our corporate project, and thus, all along this crisis, we -- for us, it has been very important to make Hermès a safe haven for its employees and partners and a responsible actor with local governments. Placing people at the center source of creativity and innovation, we want to keep -- kept the course in this uncertain reality with confidence, continuing to surprise and then keeping with our identity. This is reflected in the success of our collections and with our clients. I would like to thank our customers for their loyalty and their attachment to Hermès. This period has also seen an acceleration of the awareness of importance of social and environmental responsibility. The nature of Hermès as artisanal model since the last 180 years is a durable, sustainable model. We are attached to humanist values and absolute quality requirements without compromise at each step of the production chain. The durability of the object, quality of materials, the demandingness of know-how, richness of creation, everything is linked in a virtuous ecosystem. The very strong vertical integration and the transmission of know-how have also allowed Hermès to adapt with great agility in the course of these last months. With 80% of the production in France and more than 60% in-house, we ensure the traceability of exceptional materials in our objects, which is a promise of confidence and quality. A multi-local approach has also shown its relevance, allowing us to adapt to the reality of each country. Let's talk about the group business activity at the end of June. Group business activity was especially dynamic in H1, revenue reaching EUR 4.2 billion as of the end of June 2021, which is up 77% at constant exchange rates versus 2020. This growth reached 33% compared to 2019 in both -- comparing both to the first half and second half. Stores saw their growth rates up 81% year-on-year, remarkable performance in Asia, acceleration in the Americas and a recovery in Europe in Q2. Overall, the network adapted in a very agile fashion, proposing omnichannel solutions to our clients and continuing its development. We'll come back to the point. Now let's look at business activity broken down by geography. Versus 2020, all geographies keep their strong momentum. First of all, France, up 35%. Europe, excluding France, up 52%, saw recovery in the first half but still feel the negative effect of restrictions in some countries as well as a reduction in tourist flows, offset, though, by local clients and online sales. Next, Japan, up 59%, displaying remarkable performance in spite of new measures resulting from the health state of emergency, and this is thanks to loyalty of the local customer base. Asia, excluding Japan, up 87%, seeing the benefits of strong momentum throughout the region, driven by strong performance from Mainland China and acceleration in sales in Singapore and Thailand in spite of new restrictions in some countries in Q2. The Americas, lastly, up 115%, and that accelerated further in Q2. Versus 2019, all geographies are seeing double-digit growth except for Europe. The geographical distribution changes slightly versus last year due to the strong growth in Asia and the impact of restrictions in France and in Europe. Now let's talk about revenue broken down by sector. As of the end of June 2021, all sectors confirmed their growth, remarkable growth in ready-to-wear and accessories, watches and other Hermès sectors. Leather sales, up 63%, a beautiful growth after beginning of the year, which was driven by strong deliveries from the end of 2020, exceptional levels. Demand remains strong, thanks to reinvented classics as well as new models such as the Hermès Della Cavalleria bag. Development projects continue with the opening of the Montereau leather production site last June. The ready-to-wear and accessories sector, up 98%, continues its strong momentum, thanks to the ready-to-wear collections and fashion accessory collections. Silk and textiles, up 72%, so great performance, thanks to diversity of creations, materials and formats. A new innovative printing line was opened in Pierre-Bénite, which is near Lyon. Perfumes and beauty, up 65%, growing and reaping the benefits of the new men's fragrance, H24. One year after the launch of Rouge Hermès, beauty continues its development with the launch of Rose Hermès. Watches, up 121%, confirming their excellent performance, reflecting the watchmakers' know-how, technical level and creativity of our collections and particularly the success of our new men's watch, H06. Lastly, other Hermès sectors, up 100% (sic) [ 69% ]. This includes jewelry, art of living and tableware, confirming strong momentum here. Versus 2019, all sectors are seeing strong growth. Now distribution by sector shows us strong growth in ready-to-wear, accessories and other Hermès sectors. Now in this totally new situation, Hermès has kept its capacity to enchant and to take risks with an innovative creation. I'd like to thank all the teams of the artistic direction and those of the sectors. I would like to mention the enrichment of the leather collection with the models Birkin trois en un and Della cavalleria that I already spoke about, the beautiful welcome of the women and men's ready-to-wear collections during Paris Fashion Week, successful launch of the Kellymorphose jewelry collection. Apple AirTag Hermès marks a new step of development in collaboration with Apple. And finally, 2021 has also seen the presentation of Sylvania, a new exceptional material made from Fine Mycelium. We have evoked already this confidence in the future and integrated artisanal production model that we pursue our operational investments in our production capacities in France. We've inaugurated the Montereau leather production unit in Seine-et-Marne in June, neighboring Tannerie. We are finalizing the work in Guyenne, Gironde leather production site inauguration planned for September 2021. Three other production site projects are underway: Louviers, Eure by 2022, first manufacturing site with positive energy; and then in the Ardennes for 2023; and Auvergne in 2024. We're also pursuing work in the Lyon textile hub with the enlargement of the Pierre-Bénite production site. In the beginning of the year, our omnichannel network has continued its development. For the last 5 years, we made a strong strategic choice with the ramping up of the e-commerce platform everywhere in the world, and we're going to continue to accompany the digitalization of the users. In parallel, Hermès pursues the strengthening of its physical retail network. We have thus opened new stores on the Omotesando Avenue in Tokyo in February, Troy near Detroit in June. Several renovations and enlargements are being pursued in Lyon and Paris, rue de Sèvres, Zurich, Brisbane, Macao and Beijing. Let's move on to the communication of Hermès. The adaptability and creativity are ingredients, which are key to continue to strengthen and nurture the link with our customers with the reality that it's an ever-changing world. The house has an integrated approach of both digital and physical. The formats designed with the director Cyril Teste for men's ready-to-wear, the 3-act performance in Paris, Shanghai and New York for women's ready-to-wear illustrates this. The multi-local division is also key to adapt to the context of each and every country. In fact, the physical events have resumed in Asia. We are continuing to accompany the ramping up of the digital influence and pursuing paid investments in ambitious campaigns such as out of beauty and jewelry. The second semester will be materialized through the intensification of communication actions. The first 2021 H2 -- sorry, H1 has been marked by the advancement of several strategic areas in terms of CSR, support of employment. Hermès has nearly 17,000 employees in the world today, out of which 10,600 are in France. Since December 2020, we have recruited nearly 400 people. This trend has accelerated in Q2 to accompany the development of Hermès. The transformation and education remain at the heart of our commitments, and thus, 2021 sees the pursual of the project of the center of training for Hermès apprentices called l’École Hermès des savoir-faire, in partnership with the national education to transmit leather-making know-how and valorize them through the acquisition of national state diploma called the CFA Maroquinerie. The program Manufacto of the corporate foundation of Hermès operated in France is also now operating in Italy and United Kingdom for the first time. In June 2021, we signed a new agreement, group-wide disabilities-related agreement for an improved approach. With 51 production sites set up in 9 regions in France, the group is a local [ activated ] integration of jobs and revitalization of territories and protection of natural environments. The new Montereau leather production unit has been accompanied with the plantation of over 200 trees for the regreening of the production site, also accompanied with hybrid solar panels completed with LED lighting. Finally, Hermès accomplished Sciences Po with a chair for territorial development. Emphasis is put on social inclusion, strengthening of durability and economic growth. It aims at favoring the implementation of, public, national policies and European policies. In H1 2021, Hermès has reasserted its commitment to reduce carbon emissions with the formalization of trajectories for the reduction of industrial site emissions in line with the 2030 targets, reduction of emission by 50% and the renewal of its commitment with the third Livelihoods Carbon Fund and positive impact to climate change, namely, through large reforestation projects. Hermès has committed alongside Livelihoods since its creation in 2012. It's 130 million trees that have been planted to the benefit of over 1 million people. Hermès offset, since 2019, over 100% of its emissions linked to its own activities, scopes 1 and 2. Today, more than 80% of the electricity of the group comes from decarbonized sources. What is more -- our commitment to responsibility challenges accompanied by WWF and CDC Climate. Hermès has advanced on the mapping of Global Biodiversity Score impacts. Our commitments are also materialized in collective initiatives with enhanced transparency. And I'll give the floor to Eric du Halgouët, CFO, who will present the results to you.

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. Whereas at the same time last year, the group was reporting results negatively affected by the closure of stores, the first half of 2021 is seeing a strong leverage effect generated by a rebound in sales. The first half of the year sees exceptional results, whether you're talking about operating profitability, net profitability or growth in available cash flow compared both to 2020 and to 2019. As Axel mentioned, revenue is up 77% at constant exchange rates and 70% at current exchange rates compared to 2020. This organic growth is virtuous because it includes only limited price hikes, less than 2% group-wide. Changes in currency parities representing EUR 160 million, minus 7 points growth in sales, generates a slightly accretive impact on operating profitability. Improvement in growth margin by 6.5 points. This comes mainly from the leverage effect on fixed production expenses plus gradual improvement in productivity as well as remarkable inventory sell-through rates, both in fashion, sectors as well as sectors such as watches, jewelry and the home. Communication spend reaching EUR 145 million, which is a level similar to H1 of 2019. Inter-alia, this bolstered strong growth in China as well as the launch of our new men's fragrance, H24. Other sales and admin expenses, EUR 790 million. This includes, firstly, employee wages in stores as well as support function employees and variable rent payments. The increase, EUR 128 million, 1/3 of which comes from fixed expenses and 2/3 of which comes from rent, which is indexed on revenue, expressed as a percentage of sales. Overheads generated a leverage effect of almost 8 points, making a strong contribution to the improvement in operating profitability. Other income and expenses, EUR 371 million, EUR 244 million of which is the amortization of usage fees as well as fixed assets. The increase is due to the increased -- continuation of group investments in the distribution network. Furthermore, this includes expenses relating to the bonus shares plan. Recurring operating income, H1 2021, EUR 1.722 billion, which is 3x greater than that of 2020, up 51% versus H1 2019. Expressed as a percentage of sales, recurring operating profitability reaches 40.7%. This chart is an illustration of the leverage effect resulting from the upturn in sales, whereas the group contained changes in fixed expenses relating to its vertical integration. Growth in sales in H1 2021 compared to the drop booked during the same period last year has led to an improvement in recurring operating profitability, reaching 41%, gaining almost 20 points. Versus 2019, the increase is 6 points. The level of profitability as of the end of June 2021 is exceptional, and we cannot extrapolate this for the full year period inter-alia due to increased hiring. Furthermore, the group's objective is to strengthen its operational investments and communication spending in the second half of the year. Lastly, we have to take into account the negative currency effect in the second half of the year. Financial results are an expense of EUR 47 million versus EUR 43 million in the first half of 2020. This expense mainly entails cost of currency hedging as well as interest on lease liabilities. The tax rate of H1 is 30.5%, which represents the forecast rate for full year 2021. It's basically stable versus the reported tax rate for full 2020, which was 30.9%. Growth in income from associates is the result of a significant improvement in our activities in the Middle East with our local partner. Net income, therefore, reaching EUR 1.174 billion, 3.5x greater than that of 2020, up 56% compared to 2019. Improvement in operating profitability, combined with a drop in half yearly tax rate, generates net profitability almost 28% of sales, which is 2x greater than that of H1 2020. In spite of the impact of the health crisis, annual average growth rate over a 10-year period for both revenue and net income, 12.5%, respectively, and 15%. The group, after maintaining its strategic investments in 2020, continued its projects in the first half of 2021. EUR 97 million were spent on renovating and enlarging our distribution network. We would mention, among others, the construction of our future flagship store in New York, Madison 706; the enlargement of the Milan store in Italy; the opening in Japan of the Omotesando store or the relocation of Beijing China World in China. EUR 56 million was spent on production and/or specific sectors, mainly in leather. There are projects in Guyenne, Montereau, Louviers, Saint-Junien and [ Rio ]. Lastly, EUR 61 million were invested in real estate projects such as our new premises located at rue de Sèvres in Paris and in our IT systems to optimize the supply chain, strengthen security and continue the rollout of the e-commerce [ platform ]. Operational cash flow reaching EUR 1.5 billion in H1, thanks to strong growth in cash flow generation and a drop in working capital requirements after taking into account operating investments we alluded to previously, EUR 214 million, and repayment of lease liabilities, EUR 102 million. Adjusted available cash flow reaches EUR 1.2 billion, representing twice as much as that booked in the first half of 2019, which is EUR 0.6 billion. The group made share buybacks of EUR 142,000, reaching EUR 162 million and paid a dividend of EUR 4.55 per share, identical to the dividend in 2020. Restated net cash went up EUR 600 million in the half yearly period, reaching EUR 5.5 billion as of the end of June. Consolidated shareholders' equity going beyond the EUR 8 billion mark. Using its strong financial structure, the group will be stepping up investments in the second half, adding to its teams to consolidate group-wide development. I'd like to thank you for your attention. I'll give the floor to Axel, who will talk to us about the outlook.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Eric. I now come to the outlook of the group, which remain unchanged. After having preserved the jobs during the crisis, taking support on its solid financial structure, the group will, as we have seen, accelerate its investment in H2 to consolidate the development of the group. These good results reward the extraordinary work of all our teams and the solidity of our model, but we remain aware of the uncertainties linked to the pandemic and the global context. In the medium term, despite the economic, geopolitical and monetary uncertainties in the world, the group confirms an objective of ambitious progression of its revenue at constant exchange rates. The 2021 theme, a guiding thread of the creation, is that of the Odyssey, and thus, we pursue our journey such as the Odyssey's, faithful to himself despite the challenges and successes. We confirm our strategic investments in new production capacity in France, which leads to the creation of new jobs and the pursual of our efforts in training and transmission. The extension of several stores in Europe, U.S.A. and Asia strengthen our exclusive and omnichannel retail network. True to our creative spirit, it is a pleasure for us to unveil the third chapter of Hermès Beauty with hand care. We will present the women's ready-to-wear collection spring/summer 2022 during the October Fashion Week in Paris, and we're happy to welcome petit h in an enlarged space within the Hermès Sèvres store in Paris. I'd like to thank each and every employee of Hermès that work every single day to make the house grow and our customers whose loyalty is greatly appreciated by us. We are now available to answer to your questions.

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] We have our first question from Edouard Aubin from Morgan Stanley.

[Interpreted] I've got 2 questions. Firstly, you spoke cautiously about growth in sales in fashion and leather due to production constraints you have. A few months back, I think you were saying growth in volumes will be 15% in 2021 versus 2019, but it will be difficult to reach. You're doing much better than that, though, it would appear, in the first half when it comes to volume growth. What's the explanation for this additional performance versus what is expected in this category? And what should our expectations be for the second half? That's my first question. Question 2, operating income well above market expectations in the first half. Regarding the second half, I've taken account of what Eric said about increases in certain line items, negative impact of currencies and so forth. But in the second half, couldn't we expect a margin in the range of 33% to 37%, which is what you reported in the second half of 2019 and second half of 2020?

[Interpreted] I'll answer first, and then Eric will continue. To talk about leather, let's talk about what took place. Yes, we've got production bottlenecks, which remain as such. We still have a forecast of about 8% per annum. Now what happened in 2020? As you saw, many stores were closed. Many of our customers, therefore, weren't able to go into our stores. So there was some inventory end of 2020 in all geographies that was quickly sold on the first half of '21. So there is that catch-up effect in sell-through of inventory, which we saw in the first half, which just goes to show the attractiveness of our products everywhere. We've continued investing less in production capacity. We are very much still in line with our medium-term strategy regarding leather, and this is why we do not expect to see the same growth rate for leather in the second half of the year. Eric will build on this. Regarding the margin, let's be honest, we hadn't expected plus 33% versus 2019. We had expected a strong rebound, a beautiful year. But I have to confess, the results have gone beyond our expectations. Two effects. One of them is acceleration, strong acceleration that we've seen. Also, the leverage effect was quite impressive. In addition, there's been an acceleration in our investments plan for upcoming years, launching projects and so forth. As of H2, we'll see further investments in new jobs, in new logistics centers, the idea being to pave the way for 2022 and 2023.

I'll build on that, saying that second half profitability, the main driver is going to be sales. Right now, the environment is uncertain. Let me recall, we said we'd intend to increase our investments, both OpEx and also communication spend. We, as many groups, had frozen hiring for support functions. That was unfrozen in the first quarter. We're going to now see this increase in hiring, which is going to take place. I also mentioned currencies. There's the conversion effect due to the 8-point variance between constant exchange rate and current exchange rate growth that had an impact in the first half, won't have an impact in the second half because we'll see less of a variance due to changes in current rates. Also, our guaranteed hedge rates are unfavorable, but in the first half, we saw an inventory reduction effect of products that have been bought in 2020 at more favorable exchange rates. So those are the main points, which lead to caution. As Axel said, our priorities are the medium and long term, i.e., product quality, customer service, omnichannel. These are going to be our focus. We'll be bolstering our call centers, our support centers for our customers' benefit. Thank you.

We have another question from Zuzanna Pusz from UBS.

I've got 2. So the first one is on capacity constraints. So we are used to the fact that you tend to see, obviously, capacity constraints in leather goods because of the nature of the category. But I've actually been hearing anecdotally that there is actually some waiting list for other products like even shoes or tableware. So would be helpful if you could maybe tell us if that's the case and if this is something that may have impacted growth in some categories in Q2. And just second question is on communication expense. So that was 3.4% of sales in H1. If I remember correctly, your target is usually 5% in a normal environment. Is this something we should expect for the full year, which I think would imply in excess of 6% of sales in H2? That would be very helpful to know.

Yes. Well, capacity constraint, there is one thing really -- I mean, I'm sorry to say that, but what we try to do always is to produce as much as we can for our client. But I would say the real capacity constraint is about quality, and quality is 2 things: to find the right material of the utmost quality, and the second thing is to have the know-how to do it. And it's -- most of our products are very labor-intensive, which means that you need to have skilled people to work these incredible materials. So our quality -- our capacity constraint is a little bit everywhere. And when you have such a growth, it's -- it creates maybe from some time to time shortage of product on a few things. I don't think that we -- I think, first of all, that the growth of the second quarter or the first semester is very high compared to that. And my goal and my -- for the rest of the year is whatever, maintain the quality of the product and not consider anything on that, and that's what we've done for years in the leather. That's what we are always doing in all of the products. And I think that's part of the authenticity of the group, which is very important. And of course, as you can see, for example, with leather, every year, we try to do a new manufacturer. Every year, we hire 200, 250 new craftsmen, but we only do it in a reasonable way to take the time to pass on the craft, to take the time to select the right person, the right quality of materials and all that. And for me, this is the most important thing. The most important thing is the creation and the creativity and to do this product in an incredible fashion, and after that, the sales, they are just the consequence of it. For communication, Eric will -- there are 2 facts. The first fact is that we had a higher growth than budgeted. The second one is that there were still a few events that we had to cancel because of sanitary restrictions. But of course, we continue to invest in communication and, of course, this is not a variable of adjustment for the P&L.

Yes. The level of communication expenses will be linked to the COVID constraints for specific events, of course. In any case, we will increase the paid part of communication expenses, and we have a target, assuming that the level of sales will be reached, of around EUR 400 million for the full year.

Because you mentioned uncertainty kind of in the current environment, can you just confirm if trends so far in Q3 have been in line with Q2?

We don't confirm Q3. It's really early in the Q3. We'll have to wait for a nice morning call in the coming months.

[Interpreted] We have a question from Thomas Chauvet from Citi.

[Interpreted] I have 3 questions. The first on growth per geographic region in the Americas, where there's been an acceleration as compared to Q1, maybe more in line compared to some of your competitors. Have you changed anything from a commercial merchandising your [indiscernible] point of view? Maybe the e-commerce sales have been higher in terms of penetration rate in the U.S., which explains this catching up. Or do you believe that it's just in line with the trends that you actually see in the sector? My second question relates to the recruitment growth. If you look in June, 8%. When you talk about catching up on recruitment in second half of the year, that means it will be higher than 8% in H2. I suppose it's essentially linked to the opening of production sites. Third, the production site, the CapEx, you had guided EUR 450 million, EUR 500 million in February for the year, the budget EUR 214 million first half of the year, 45%. That means EUR 300 million CapEx investment for the second half of the year, is that correct?

[Interpreted] Thank you. Well, to answer to your 3 questions, we do see a recovery of the U.S. with a performance more difficult in 2020 as compared to other geographical zones where Asia functioned well. I would see 2 trends, one which is specific to Hermès. We were very cautious with uncertainty in the U.S. and the sanitary situation for a very long time and longer than others. Our stores were only on appointment and not completely open. These are options that we adopted for the management of flow as compared to the pandemic in the different states, and we focused a lot on our network. We didn't make pop-ups or other commercial operations. We remained with this. And now that the health situation, the sanitary situation is being stabilized until any further changes, we do see a big dynamism in the U.S., which is nourished in 2 ways: first of all, our loyal customers are back with big local customers -- customer base; and also new customers, quite young, who discovered Hermès in 2020, thanks to e-commerce. We have seen arriving in our stores -- new customers in stores who have discovered during 2020 a house through e-commerce, and we, therefore, continue to have very good results in e-commerce and also the links between e-commerce and our stores in the U.S. So those are somewhat the reasons for the success we have in the U.S. Success which is quite interesting in the U.S. because all these sectors are doing well. This is the case worldwide but hasn't always been the case as much in the U.S., and all the materials, all the sectors are progressing strongly in the U.S. With regard to the recruitment, it's a bit of everything. I feel like saying, obviously, new artisans linked to the opening of our manufacturing sites but also a lot of sales associates in Asia and U.S. geographical areas where there's a lot of traffic of new customers and numbers, which, for the service requires a lot of people. So a lot more sales associates, behind that, of course, as you can imagine, all of the logistics and IT and things that need to be structured. So what do we see? I feel like answering more at length, and I apologize. So this acceleration -- we are witnessing a moment of acceleration of trends. I give you the 3 trends: very dominant Asia, high digitization worldwide and strong interest for CSR subjects. This was the case before the crisis, but it has been accelerated strongly. So what do we see? We see an acceleration of these trends of our activities, which require that we accelerate our investment plan, accelerate in IT on the digital with -- 2025. We've come -- and now we have to accelerate things. So we have to launch things now to prepare for the growth of tomorrow in structuring projects to follow this trend. And this will undoubtedly, for our investments, lead to, and that is your third point, where we're accounting EUR 500 million of investment of CapEx over the year. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Another question from [ Aaron Hamburg ] from HSBC.

[Interpreted] Congratulations on the good results. To come back to leather, though, you talked about 8% per annum in volume. We understand the catch-up effect in the first half of this year. When do you think we'll start to see growth converging to the 8%? What can our expectations be in terms of volumes in H2 this year and beyond? Question number two, for Japan. Hermès clearly outperformed its peers. Many houses said there have been restrictions before the Olympics, but apparently, you didn't have the same experience. I was wondering what was different for you in Japan, explaining such a market share. Then the last question I have, cash levels. There are lots of consolidations in the industry right now. You've at least partially divested some share. The EUR 5 billion in cash, what might you do with it? You talked about acceleration, Axel? Might we see an acceleration in vertical integration projects or some other use of cash? Might that be possible in today's world?

[Interpreted] Thank you. On leather, we can't do complete -- full projections. It's a business area that's all about people doing things by hand. So there are lots of factors. It depends on -- and it's all 100% made in France. Major impacts in the production are have schools been open? What about day care? Those are major considerations. The health crisis has had an impact. We try to grow. There are lots of factors in the process such as new artisans, performance of each artisan, apprenticeship learning curve during the year. Productivity of artisans continues to increase as they can make more models, work with different types of leather and so forth as they are more and more autonomous. These aren't tasks. These are crafts. So our basis is 8%. The beginning of the year isn't normative because, yes, there was inventory, fairly bigger and more inventory. Even closed the stores. And when they reopened, they'd be selling leathers. They kept their inventory on hand. Furthermore, we had an excellent Chinese New Year in China. So we continue with that target. I don't know if we could consider a figure.

[Interpreted] We're going to [ do ] that normalization in H2, which is to say 8% in volume plus a price effect.

[Interpreted] Okay. Now your question on Japan. First of all, thank you. This is something very specific to us, yes. I love this question. So let me put it this way. I'd like to make 3 points, the 3 criteria, if I can put it that way, which are real plus for Japanese teams. We've got a local team, local chief and -- thanks to them. Three important things: loyalty, local and cross-generational. Let me build on these. This may be atypical compared to what may be done elsewhere. So our Japan results are atypical. First of all, loyalty. There's tremendous loyalty from Japanese customers. They were very important in the '80s. They continue to be very important for us. That's our theory at Hermès. We don't just let fall by the wayside our loyal customers. For a while, people were investing in other countries, more in China, more elsewhere and so forth. We did indeed go to China, but we also continued investing in Japan. We continued speaking to that customer base, strengthening it, adding beautiful locations, doing major refurbishments in Ginza. We redid the Marunouchi store in Tokyo. We just reopened at Omotesando. So there's this idea, first of all. You've got emerging countries that are growing. You've got long-standing countries that have been doing well, and we're continuing to invest in them as we continue to invest in rue de Sèvres in Paris. So there's our intention in Japan to continue with our customer base, not let them fall by the wayside regardless of good year or poor year, what have you. This concept of loyalty, very important as a long-term view, very important. Secondly, we pay attention to the local aspect. I said management is local in Japan. By the same token, customers are local. Very important for us -- in each country for us to be local actors highly involved with our own local customer base. We then also reap the benefits from the tourism flows. In the past 5, 6 years in Japan, something new has been strong tourist flows, a lot of tourism within Asia. We've got loyalty of local customers. That's helped us outperform the marketplace in Japan, thanks to our Japanese customer base, which has remained highly loyal. The third point, which is a real plus for the Japanese teams as well. Often during our calls and with journalists, we hear a question, "What about the millennials?" When we talked about this with our Japanese teams, they said, "We're going to be multigenerational, 3 generational. We're not going to focus on one generation versus another. We're selling to all the generations of the family, the grandfather, the father and the son and so forth." They said, "There's no reason at all to focus specifically on one generation. We accommodate the entire family throughout the year." I love that refreshing approach, and it was certainly successful during this year. Sometimes, we're driven by a wave which may be strong and go one way or another. But our strategic decisions, our approach, our way of doing things, our vision of the business can make us distinctive, and I believe our Japanese teams have especially shown this to be true. They've been highly [ relevant ], sometimes [ arrives on the mark ]. And then another point, the third point was about cash. Hermès' strategy has always been about organic development, which has been beneficial to us. As shown, the resilience of our business model enabled us to develop in areas that require investment. Think of our makeup launch and so forth. So we'll continue with that strategy of developing ourselves organically. We'll consider possibilities, as everyone does, but that's not our strategy. You can never say never, but it's not our strategy for the future. That's not our vision.

[Interpreted] Next question from Luca Solca, Bernstein.

[Interpreted] I would like to -- if you could go into the detail of the component of the growth of the gross margin. You haven't increased the prices considerably. Is there a category mix effect or effect of geographies, as there have been important investments in China where the prices are higher? Secondly, I was wondering, as soon as you opened the stores, what was your experience on the share of sales on the Internet? Are you seeing a stability or rather a drop in the percentage of sales on the Internet? And how do you then deal with the development of this activity? Thirdly, there are some investors who are having problems with what's happening in China. There is an action of the government in certain sectors. Have you started to feel the consequences on the demand? Or has there been no consequence for the moment on the Chinese demand for luxury, vis-a-vis what is happening [ as regards the ] Internet companies in the last weeks?

[Interpreted] Eric, would you like to answer on the gross margin?

[Interpreted] On leverage effect -- sorry, on profitability, it's mainly a leverage effect which generated this level of profitability in the first half as well as inventory sell-through. The mix effect is also positive because profitability in countries such as Japan, which is just mentioned, and Asia more broadly, such as Hong Kong with more positive tax rates have higher profitability. So there was a geography mix that was favorable.

[Interpreted] Now to specify globally, we don't have a strategy that is much differentiated per product. We try to have the same margin, whether the product is desirable or not at all desirable so that the mix effect doesn't actually have a great impact. We haven't -- despite the strong demand in Asia, we haven't acted on prices because our prices are really made on the basis of our production cost. And then there's the approach rates, the tax rates, which can be more favorable, but that's not the idea. It's really the leverage effect, and that's how it remains important. For the Internet, I don't know whether I will answer. That's what -- I mean, I tend to say, which annoys everybody, including my teams, I never give a percentage of sales on the Internet. I do not look at them, so I don't follow them. But what I can say is that with the reopening of the stores, the strong growth of Internet has continued very strongly. And there's new customers, and we have seen that all our criteria have improved, whether it is the conversion rate, the average purchase or the number of customers. So there's, I think, about 70% of new customers, if I am not wrong. Now what do we see? That is always very interesting and that I had already alluded to the U.S., a large number of people who discovered in 2020 Hermès on the Internet, a large part. I mean I'm not talking about the same volumes, but the people came to the stores, too younger, new customers. So the dynamic still continues. The largest production rate by nature remains Internet stores. Neither in my mind or in the organization do I oppose the physical stores or the digital stores. My aim is to offer the best experience whichever -- in both, and it is up to the customer to decide when he wants or she wants to go. What is important is that this has allowed us to have new customers rather than the customers just focusing on the stores.

[Interpreted] 3-digit growth in all geographical areas. In the digital, the traffic has increased by over 80%, and as Axel was mentioning, 75% of this new traffic -- on this traffic are new customers. And the last question on the Chinese demand, Axel?

[Interpreted] Yes. While we see a strong Chinese demand and appetite for our products in a lot of countries today, we have limited -- there's limit on restaurant, limit on travel. So we are part of the industries that have been a pleasure to the customers and are desirable, and we see that strongly in China, in the U.S. and in Europe when we can be open.

So we have another question from Melania Grippo from Exane BNP Paribas.

It's Melania Grippo from BNP Paribas. Could you please remind us your store opening plans and refurbishment for the remainder of the year? Then I have another question. If you could please give us an indication within your leather goods business where you have seen higher growth for your iconic models or the rest. And finally, I have a question on the new material that you have introduced, Sylvania, given the fact that also, several years ago here, you were innovating in the use of material. I was wondering if you have already gathered some feedback from your customers on this new material. And what do you expect in terms of when do you expect it to launch?

Okay. Thank you. Maybe I will start with the refurbishment and new store for the second semester. I will say, mainly, I'm not going to take all of them because there is a lot of them, but I would say, we opened 2 new stores in the second semester, one in Miami, a second store in Miami and a second store also in Shenzhen in China. After we -- as I told you, we're going to reopen Sèvres fully with petit h. We just reopened a few days ago in Milan. I don't know if you have yet seen. We are expanding in the U.S., in South Coast Plaza, for example, in California. In China, we're going to expand our Plaza 66 store in Shanghai and also [indiscernible]. And we, in Japan, continue to expand our store in Tokyo, Shinjuku Isetan. That's for the main part. For the leather, I'm sorry, I cannot comment more than what I've said before about our long-term view of the growth of 8% in term of production. And what we see on the other side, which is on the sell side, is that there is a very, very strong appetite for our leather goods and regardless of the models, you have to say. That's very interesting to see that. Yes, we sell very well Birkin; yes, we sell very well Kelly; yes, we sell very well Constance; yes, we sell a lot Evelyne, Picotin and the new model. And I think what has been, I would say, impressive during the semester is that, really, the growth is across the board in -- within the -- in the métier and within the métier also. And the third point, which is our new product, I will say our strategy is quite simple for me. It's more complicated to execute, but the strategy itself is simple. The role of Hermès is to find the best product -- the best material, I will say, to make the best product. And I'm a little bit agnostic in term of materials. It just need to be incredible. It needs to be -- to last long. And it needs to -- that you can transmit it to your granddaughter. So we don't have any exclusive, I would say, strategy. We really find that we need incredible leather, and for that, we need the most sustainable and biological farming. You only get great leather when there is a welfare of the animal, when they are done in [ verity ]. So that's really something where we want to invest quite a lot. If some time we need to go for a certain product to -- to farming, we do that, and we think there is a way of doing great farming. And also, we are interested in all the technological, I will say, novelty that allow us, not to replace, but to have a new, incredible material that we can use. I'm very keen, for example, on the toile ash, which is our kind of cotton fabric that we use in our bags. It was done for the firemen in the '20s for the horse, and we use it like that. So I'm always looking at what will be the new materials worldwide that we can use because they are incredible. And so that's why we invested in new technology. We have -- we look at what is done with biotechnology. Here, it's Sylvania. We are happy of the product, which is in fine mycelium. And we only launch a project when we feel that it's a new product that's going to have a new, I will say, feeling and [indiscernible]. As you've seen in the bag, there is leather, there is mycelium. It's a mix. It's the use of this feel, which is quite nice. And of course, because we are very particular, like, most of our precious materials is very limited supply, especially at the beginning, and so it's going to be -- we're going to have the first model in the end of the year. But as you know, we are always in a lot of capacity constraint, and sometimes, there is some waiting list for our leather bags, and I expect that this one will be the same. Okay. Maybe a last question. [Foreign Language]

[Interpreted] We have a last question from Antoine Riou from Societe Generale.

[Interpreted] I've got 3 questions. Firstly, could you give us an update on next stages and feedback from customers?

[Interpreted] Could you please repeat? The sound wasn't good. Could you please speak more slowly so we can really hear your question? I do apologize.

[Interpreted] Yes, of course. No problem. A question on beauty. Could we get an update on the most recent launches and customer feedback on beauty? Plus distribution, are we still talking about distribution in your own stores? Or you are also considering distribution via other retailers? Question. Care products, what about the timeline? Could you tell us when there will be further launches, maybe in a few months? And then a question on margin. Your comment on medium-term margins around 34%, 35%, would that remain the same? Or the excellent performance in the last couple of half yearly periods, might that make you more optimistic for the medium term?

[Interpreted] On beauty, remember, this is Hermès, so we do things slowly but surely. We build things in an orderly fashion over time. So what have we done? We launched the lipstick, wildly successful. We're continuing to broaden our geographical footprint. We hadn't launched in China. This will take place in the second half. Next, we're continuing to add to the makeup range, launching Rose Hermès, Lush. We'll then continue over time, adding to hand care products, eye care products. #1 priority is to have a comprehensive makeup experience for our customers. The interesting thing is to see how successful this has been. Strong success for us reflected in our figures. If you look at Hermès Perfumes figures, growth is quite high, which is to say we've taken market share, which we didn't have previously since we were absent from the market previously. We took market share -- fairly strong market share. I can say our success, starting with lipstick, was well above our expectations. Customer reactions were very positive. The beauty of the case for the lipstick and the beauty of the colors, we're certainly color experts, have helped us. So we're very pleased. Distribution continues to be limited, but it's still greater than just distribution through our stores. We're also -- these products are also available in some major makeup locations, Harrods, [indiscernible] in Japan, Isetan. So it is a broader distribution offering. Also, beautiful online sales, e-commerce sales. Thanks to e-commerce today, we're able to really broaden our customer base. We'll continue this road. We have some targets for the medium term. We've got to find the right products at the right time. We're not just talking about doing some marketing and putting the Hermès name on some pretty cream. We're really doing it the right way, slowly but surely. We're doing a great deal of research, but we will do nothing that's not innovative and that's not ready. Now a point on margin. You see very well, we try to invest what's necessary, make the most beautiful products. Afterwards, then we see what the impact is, how well things sell, [ how wager ] pans out to our margins. We don't think the other way around, bottom-up. We do things the right way, and that leads to a margin. In recent years, we've seen a strong acceleration in growth, growth in luxury broadly, which often has a leverage effect on our forecasts. The important thing is to continue investing and think 4, 5 years down the road. So firstly, I have to put a little bit of a dampener on some of your forecasts for 2021. First of all, it's way too early days. It's a period of uncertainty. Things can go both directions. Secondly, I have to say, our rationale isn't a structural margin as such, though we certainly ensure sound management of the group, right, Eric?

[Interpreted] Yes. We continue our price harmonization and saw in recent years limited price increases. Therefore, profitability is the result of internal objectives, maintaining quality, improving customer service and then external constraints such as currencies, but I would say, we do not have a profitability target.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. This brings us to the end of our presentation. It's been a pleasure to report to you on these figures, which are high this year. I would say with great humility and modesty, these are high figures because the situation continues to be uncertain, but I would also say this with pleasure, thanks to choices we make. We make choices on a daily basis. We take stances about people, human beings. Our strategy at Hermès has always been to ensure quality and invest internationally. The group is successful also because we are major exporters. These are the right choices, and that's reconfirmed by the major trends during the crisis. We have to now learn to live with the times of crisis. Of course, we very much hope we will overcome the current one as quickly as possible. But I do also believe that we've always got to be able to not lose our way in this world, which requires agility, responsiveness and all the while authenticity of our business model, and this is reflected in our figures, I do believe. I do hope this is a consequence of all the various trade-offs and decisions we've made in recent years and not just in recent months. Thank you very much once again. We'll meet again for the presentation of our financials of Q3. Thank you. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]