Revlon has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2021, revealing growth in its fragrance and Elizabeth Arden segments despite a decline in colour cosmetics sales as the company begins to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The US-based beauty giant saw net sales of US$445m in the first quarter on 2021, a 1.8% decline on the same period the previous year. However, e-commerce sales rose by 5% across all regions, while the company also reported double-digit growth in sales among its Elizabeth Arden and fragrance divisions.
Elizabeth Arden saw net sales increase by almost 18% on the previous year to reach $112m, with growth driven by the brand's Ceramide and Cica Glow skin care products, as well as its Green Tea fragrance collection in the US and Asia markets.
Meanwhile, the company's fragrance division – which includes celebrity scents such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Elizabeth Taylor – also enjoyed an increase of 13% to $74.8m, said to be driven by strong sales of Juicy Couture, Curve and John Varvatos scents in the US.
The rest of the company's portfolio did not fare as well, however, with the Revlon brand reporting a dip of almost 11% to $162m as sales of colour cosmetics continued to decline across all markets, while sales in its portfolio segment – including deodorant brand Mitchum, Almay colour cosmetics and Revlon's Natural Honey brand – for the quarter fell 12.7% to $96m as the sector continues to feel the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the results, Debra Perelman, Revlon's President and CEO, said: “I am pleased with the continued sequential improvement in our business as we continue to recover from Covid-19 while benefiting from the exhaustive restructuring strategies we first implemented in 2018.
“As markets around the world continue to reopen and COVID-19 restrictions loosen, we are optimistic around the rebound of the mass channel, and particularly the Color Cosmetics category.”
Alongside the Q1 results, Revlon also unveiled plans for its new Revlon Global Growth Accelerator Program (RGGA), a holistic transformation programme devised to maximise the company's growth in key markets as well as expanding its digital and e-commerce capabilities, according to Perelman.
She added: “We continue to anticipate a recovery in demand for beauty products including colour cosmetics as the pandemic restrictions ease globally and believe that with the focus of RGGA, we are well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead for Revlon.”