Luxury Brand Hermès International Is a Publicly Traded Company

There are apparently more people walking around with Birkin handbags in 2021. Hermès International, the maker of the pricey purses, recently reported record earnings. If you want to get a piece of the profits and invest in Hermès, you’re in luck. Hermès is a publicly traded company.

The French luxury brand company Hermès International SCA is an OTC (over-the-counter) stock listed on the Pink Current market under the ticker symbol “HESAY.”

The company recently reported its revenues for the first half of 2021, which amounted to 4,235 million euros ($4,980 million). That’s up 77 percent over 2020 and 33 percent over 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The results for the first half of the year have been exceptional in nature. But this performance also reflects the momentum and resilience of our model, which puts people, the source of creativity and innovation, as well as the requirement for absolute quality, at its core,” said Axel Dumas, the executive chairman of Hermès, in a statement.

The increased revenue was welcome news for a company that had to close stores and production sites at the beginning of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide shutdowns. Hermès representatives say that, despite the closures, the company maintained jobs and basic salaries for its employees, which helped when sales rebounded this year. The company also added about 400 employees to the workforce.

Established in 1837, Hermès specializes in leather goods, accessories, home furnishing, perfumery, jewelry, watches, and ready-to-wear clothing. The brand was listed on the Forbes list of the World’s Most Valuable Brands in 2019.

The company’s famous “Birkin” handbag, which is named after actress Jane Birkin, is the most expensive bag in the world. The cost of a Birkin will set you back anywhere from $40,000 to $500,000.

Hermès International went public in 1993. The Hermès family owns about 65 percent of share capital in the company through asset holding companies and direct ownerships. Rival luxury goods company LVMH, which billionaire Bernard Arnault owns, owns about 20 percent of shares in the company. Although there are rumors that LVMH is looking to takeover Hermès, Arnault has repeatedly denied those rumors.

If you're looking to buy shares in Hermès International, you aren’t going to find it on Robinhood. According to Hermès International’s investor website, all of the company shares are handled directly by BNP Paribas Securities Services in France.

To become a shareholder, you must sign a service agreement to open a registered share account. BNP Paribas Securities Services handles all of the orders to buy or sell shares.

If you’re looking to invest in a Birkin but don’t have $100,000 laying around, you might be able to buy a share in one of the bags on the collectible asset investment site, Rally. Last year, Rally partnered with luxury reseller Privé Porter to offer 2,000 shares in a Birkin valued at $52,500. The shares cost $26.25 each.