Hermes: Short Interest Picks Up as Sales Growth Slows

Hermes (HESAF.PK), the French maker of Birkin bags, said third-quarter sales growth slowed to 4% after deteriorating economies in Japan and other main markets cut into luxury goods demand, say Bloomberg. The luxury goods company, who would normally be gearing up to take profits during the run-up to Christmas, fell as much as 6.3%, the most in three weeks, in Paris trading.

Short positions have been covered in Hermes since June this year, when the percentage of shares outstanding on loan (%SOOL) of the company rose to 11%, a three-year-high. Since then, and as you can see from this graph, short positions have been covered, and the %SOOL stood at 7.85% on October. In the last two weeks, this figure has risen to 8.2%.

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Interestingly, demand to borrow this stock is very high, with Utilisation peaking at 80% during July and August. This figure has decreased, but at 73%, it is still significant.

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