Today (October 30), Spanish beauty and fashion giant Puig released its financial results for the first three quarters of 2024.

In the first nine months of the year, Puig Group recorded revenues of 3.428 billion euros (about 26.447 billion yuan), an increase of 9.6% at constant exchange rates and 10.1% at reported exchange rates, which was higher than analysts expected.

It is worth mentioning that in the first half of this year, Puig Group entered the global beauty top 10 list for the first time, temporarily ranking 10th. If it continues to grow rapidly, the group is expected to rise further in the rankings.

Growth rate of 10.1% may achieve mid-term development goals ahead of schedule

As a family-owned company, the Puig Group has gone through a century of history. According to public information, Antonio Puig Castello, born in Barcelona, Spain, with the help of contacts accumulated in London, England, returned to China in 1914 to found the Puig Group. From the launch of Antonio Puig, the first perfume, to Milady, the first lipstick brand, the group continued to broaden its brand matrix, and in the 1960s began to expand overseas, and gradually gained a foothold in the international market.

On May 3 this year, Puig Group ushered in a highlight moment and successfully listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange, becoming the first fashion and beauty listed company in Spain. According to the blue eye combing, looking back at the Puig Group's financial reports from 2021 to 2024 in the first three quarters, its sales during this period have maintained double-digit growth, and even the sales in the first three quarters of this year have approached 27.927 billion yuan in 2022.

By quarter, in the third quarter of this year, Puig Group sales recorded 1.257 billion euros (about 9.697 billion yuan), an increase of 11.6% on a comparable basis, an increase of 11.1% on a reported basis, higher than the analyst forecast of 1.17 billion euros (about 9.027 billion yuan). In this regard, Puig Group CEO Marc Puig said on the conference call that Puig's sales growth in the third quarter was higher than in the first half of this year, which drove the overall revenue in the first nine months.

"This is fully in line with the Group's medium-term development plan," said Marc Puig. It is reported that Puig Group proposed a "three-year medium-term development plan" in 2021, with the goal of completing sales of 3 billion euros (about 23.141 billion yuan) in 2023 and 4.5 billion euros (about 34.714 billion yuan) in 2025. According to the financial report, Puig has exceeded the plan with revenue of 33.206 billion yuan in 2023, if the growth rate of 10.1% in the first three quarters of this year, the group is expected to break through the 4.5 billion euros (about 34.777 billion yuan) mark at the end of this year, and complete the "medium-term development plan" one year ahead of schedule.

Looking at the world, as of the first half of this year, Puig Group exceeded the Brazilian beauty giant Natura&Co with a net sales of 16.985 billion yuan, and entered the global beauty top 10 list for the first time, temporarily ranking 10th, with the sales of Coty Group in 9th place only 2.2 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that Coty recently lowered its guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (July-September 2024) and expects same-store sales to grow 4% to 5%, compared with a previous forecast of 6%. At the same time, Puig Group said in its earnings report that the first three quarters of this year exceeded previous expectations. Therefore, if the Puig Group can continue to grow, it is expected to continue to advance in the global top 10 list.

The makeup business returned to positive growth

At present, the Puig Group consists of three segments: perfume and fashion, makeup and skin care. Among them, the perfume and fashion business is the main business of the Puig Group, accounting for 73% of the total revenue, which achieved sales of 2.534 billion euros (about 19.55 billion yuan) in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 10.9% on the basis of reported exchange rates.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the continued growth of high-end brands, niche brands have gradually become the new growth force of Puig Group, and in the first three quarters of this year, also achieved double-digit growth.

At the same time, Puig Group's makeup business returned to positive growth. In the third quarter of this year, sales of the group's makeup business increased by 7.3% at reported exchange rates to 200 million euros (about 1.543 billion yuan); In the first three quarters, sales increased 1.4% at reported exchange rates to 535 million euros (about 4.127 billion yuan). It is worth noting that in the first and second quarters of this year, the sales of Puig Group's makeup business declined by 1.8% year-on-year, and the reason why it can achieve year-on-year growth in the first three quarters is closely related to the strong growth of the makeup business in the third quarter.

In this regard, Puig Group said in the earnings report that the makeup business can return to growth, thanks to the narrowing of the gap between the purchase price and the shipment. Charlotte Tilbury, the business's most important growth brand, saw growth in the largest markets of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Americas. In addition, the recent launch of Exagger-Eyes mascara has also made a good start.

Regionally, the Puig Group saw the fastest growth in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), recording double-digit growth of 12.7% in the first three quarters, recording 1.829 billion euros (about 14.11 billion yuan); The Americas region was the second fastest growing, with sales in the first three quarters of the year up 9% to 1.29 billion euros (about 9.951 billion yuan), mainly due to the strong performance of the perfume and makeup category in the US market.

At the same time, the Asia-Pacific market became the slowest growing region of the group, in the first three quarters of this year, sales recorded 307 million euros (about 2.368 billion yuan), a slight increase of 0.8%, which Puig Group attributed to the continued challenges of the external market environment in the financial report. Nevertheless, Puig Group said in the earnings report that although the proportion of the Chinese region in its global market is not high, it will make long-term investments in the market at a healthy pace.

In fact, in the previously announced medium-term development plan, Puig Group also revealed its determination to develop the Chinese market. The group expects the Chinese market to account for 25% of its global sales by 2025.

The Puig Group's idea is not out of nowhere. Iimedia Research data shows that compared with the US and European markets as high as 50% and 42% of the industry penetration, the penetration rate of China's perfume market is only 5%. In 2023, the scale of China's perfume market has reached 20.7 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 51.5 billion yuan in 2029, which is still in the blue ocean stage and will become the main growth point of the future global perfume market.