L'Occitane International sales boosted by U.S. performance

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Jennifer Braun

Published
Oct 25, 2018

In the first half of its 2018/2019 fiscal year ended September 30, the cosmetics group L'Occitane International, which operates L'Occitane en Provence and Melvita, reported unconsolidated sales of 595.4 million euros, up 12.4% on a constant exchange basis.

Growth was led by the United States and Hong Kong, whose sales jumped by 65.8% to € 100 million and 18.6% to € 58.4 million, respectively.

The U.S. market's strong performance, where L'Occitane has a little less than 200 stores, was largely boosted by the arrival of American care and makeup brand, Limelife, which L'Occitane acquired a majority stake of in January 2018.

The L'Occitane en Provence brand, which introduced its new retail concept in New York last August, also recorded agreeable sales in the United States, even though its store base was reduced by 16 locations compared to the same period last year.

In Hong Kong, sales were boosted by travel retail. In France, sales were up 1.8% to 45.4 million euros, while L'Occitane International’s main market, Japan, recorded a slight drop of 0.5%, to 99.4 million euros.
 
As of September 30, L'Occitane International Group operated 1,555 stores worldwide.