The French beauty chain managed to stay in the black in Q4 with sales growth of 1.7 per cent as the COVID-19 pandemic hit major Asian markets, including China, Hong Kong and Japan.
But growth of 6 per cent through the first three quarters of FY 2020 propelled L’Occitane to net sales of 1.644 billion euros (AUD$2.66 billion) – a year-on-year gain of 15.2 per cent.
Online sales were a major prop with revenues booming 41.8 per cent.
Elemis, the UK prestige skincare brand acquired by L’Occitane in early 2019 for US$900 million, continued to perform strongly. The brand reached sales of 165.8 million euros (AUD$268.7 million) in FY 2020 – a solid 10.1 per cent of L’Occitane’s overall revenues.
Elemis sales were strongest in the UK and the US. The brand also recently signed with The Hut Group to fast-track direct-to-consumer sales in major markets.
LimeLife by Alcone, the US natural makeup brand majority-owned by L’Occitane, had been enjoying dynamic growth in Asian travel retail prior to the coronavirus. But global sales slipped 2.7 per cent in FY 2020.
The UK and the US reported the strongest growth for L’Occitane over the period at 163 per cent and 22.3 per cent, respectively.
China also performed well with revenues up 10.5 per cent, fuelled by e-commerce giants, Alibaba and JD.com, and WeChat, China’s massive social media, messaging and mobile payment app with more than one billion users.