France's Hermes will fully shift the burden of tariffs in the United States to its wealthy clientele, the company said on Thursday, as it posted first-quarter sales that slightly missed market expectations in a rare show of weakness.

PARIS – Amid the luxury slowdown, Hermès International showed continued strength with sales in the first quarter up 7 percent at constant exchange rates to 4.13 billion euros. The numbers fell slightly short of analysts’ expectations, which had forecast the gain at 8 percent to 4.2 billion.

French luxury fashion house Hermès (OTCPK:HESAY) plans to increase U.S. prices to offset tariff costs. The price hikes will be instituted at the beginning of May. "The price increase that we’re going to implement will be just for the U.