Soaring sales in the Americas and a growing brand portfolio helped drive beauty retailer L’Occitane International’s global sales up by 17.9 per cent in the year to March 31, to US$2.356 billion.
Sales surged 80.4 per cent in the region – or 62.8 per cent at constant exchange rates – mainly thanks to the US performance of the group’s Sol de Janeiro brand acquired 18 months ago, and Elemis.
In contrast, the group’s core L’Occitane en Provence brand saw sales decline 0.5 per cent over the full year, despite a 0.8 per cent improvement in the fourth quarter as Chinese sales rebounded after the Covid impact. The brand was hit by the closure of the Russian business and China’s retail trading restrictions.
Elemis recorded 18.1 per cent growth in the fourth quarter, to end the full year at 8.9 per cent, driven by a 34 per cent improvement in the US and what L’Occitane described as “outstanding e-commerce and cruise ship businesses” and a 29.2 per cent boost in Asia Pacific, where the brand has been a development focus during the past year.
Sol de Janeiro became the group’s second-largest brand during the March year, accounting for $295 million in sales after surging 267.5 per cent in the fourth quarter and 135.2 per cent over the 12 months. “[This was] fuelled by the highly anticipated launches of the Bum Bum Firmeza body oil, in tandem with its bestselling Brazilian Bum Bum Cream, and the Rio Radiance fragrance mist,” the company said.
Andre Hoffmann, vice-chairman & CEO at L’Occitane, said the company is well-positioned to sustain growth during the coming year as it introduces its newer brands into new markets and channels, underlying the success of the group’s strategy to develop multiple brands.
“We also continued to make solid progress in the ESG space having recently announced a roadmap for achieving a science-based net-zero target across all of our brands, with a focus on reaching 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 2031 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”
The next results from L’Occitane will include the performance of Australian brand Grown Alchemist which L’Occitane announced in March it had bought to add to its growing brand line-up.