Esprit Group Chairman & CEO Heinz Krogner (L) and Executive Director and President Thomas Grote host a news conference announcing the company's interim results in Hong Kong February 7, 2007. Esprit Holdings Ltd., the world's fifth-largest fashion retailer, posted a 28 percent rise in first-half earnings thanks to a strengthening euro and robust same-store sales, but a German consumption tax increase could weigh on its short-term bottom line.
