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French luxury goods group Hermes has recently revealed its first-quarter sales gained 10.3 percent on strong demand from Asia but noted weaker growth in sales of its iconic leather goods. Overall sales came to 856.8 million Euros (1.1 billion) with a jump of 17 percent in Asian countries excluding Japan, where they were 7.0 percent stronger, and a 12.0 percent jump in Europe, Hermes posted a better figure this time around than French rival LVMH, where comparable sales were up by 7.0 percent. Hermes had record results in 2012, with sales of 3.48 billion Euros and a net profit of 740 million. In the first quarter of 2013, the Leather Goods and Saddlery division posted organic growth of 7.0 percent from the same period a year earlier, but that was less than half the comparable rate in the final quarter of 2012.