L’Occitane’s brand acquisitions fuel significant half-year 2023 results

L’Occitane’s acquisitions of Sol de Janeiro and Grown Alchemist contributed to a significant sales boost during the first half of the French beauty player’s 2023 financial year.

The group reported sales of €900.5m for the period ended 30 September 2022, a 29.3% increase on the same period last year.

The group’s online sales mix were 29.4%, supported by strong performance from its digitally-centric brands including Elemis and Sol de Janeiro.

“Despite the challenging environment, the proven resilience of our business ensured that we continued to maintain strong growth momentum and achieve another record interim profit,” said André Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman and CEO of L’Occitane.

Sol de Janeiro benefited from increased sales due to positive customer response to its Beija Flor range.

L’Occitane en Provence’s wide geographic reach also helped to circumvent a relatively muted performance in Asia.

Elemis saw strong international results, with China remaining as one of the brand’s “most promising” growth markets despite the current impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The brand’s Pro-Collagen Marine Cream was highlighted as being a top performer during the period.

The combined performance fueled an increase in operating profits to €87m, a rise of 10.3%.

The beauty brand also praised a strong return in bricks-and-mortar traffic, which did not “overly cannibalise online sales”.

Retail sales grew 4.4% at constant rates during the period, despite trading with 121 fewer stores when compared with 2021.

“Although current macroeconomic headwinds are likely to continue and lead to cost ramifications in all parts of our business, we are highly focused on executing a strong holiday season,” added Hoffman.

“In line with our corporate mission, we have a clear and collective focus on the triple bottom-line – our people, the planet and profitability – and remain committed to harnessing the inherent strengths of our brands to deliver sustainable growth and profitability.”