BUZZ-Hermes: brand power

** Combination of powerful brand, pricing power & globalreach drawing buyside to French luxury goods co Hermes

** Aberdeen AM's Bertie Thomson looking at Hermes & ScillaHuang Sun, manager of JB Luxury Brands fund at Swiss & GlobalAsset Mgmt, recently upped holding in co

** Both attracted to brand's strength & co's growth - at c.8pct vs rivals LVMH & Kering on c.3-5 pct, says Thomson

** For Thomson, senior investment manager of Aberdeen AM'sGlobal-European Equity Fund, while valuation lofty (c.35x 1Y fwdPE), Hermes "probably one of the best examples of robust pricingpower"; notes co adjusts pricing globally to generate same grossmargin in each country

** For luxury goods cos broadly, China's slowing economy &anti-graft campaign have been a worry but, crucially, salesdownturn seen in Hong Kong does not mean Chinese are spendingless - rather elsewhere, S&G AM's Huang Sun says

** She flags explosion in Chinese tourist spend in Europeearly 2015 amid weak euro; given travel flow/FX hard to predict,prefers cos with global exposure (also holds BMW,Ferragamo, Swatch & Estee Lauder )

** She would remove Mulberry from global listalongside Korean cosmetics & hotels/casinos in Macau (RM: tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

Mulberry Group