L’Occitane Achieves 24% Growth as a Result of Key Acquisitions

In recent years, the French group has aimed to develop a portfolio of premium beauty brands. This strategy is proving effective, as the group’s new acquisitions have significantly boosted L’Occitane’s sales, particularly the American company Sol de Janeiro, in which the group acquired a majority stake.

Innovative and rooted in the premium beauty market, the skincare brand Sol de Janeiro, founded in 2015 in the United States, is experiencing rapid growth, especially appreciated by Millennials and Generation Z. It offers hair and skin products formulated with organic materials from Brazil and eco-friendly processes. L’Occitane also has the French brand Melvita in its portfolio, which was acquired in 2008 and mainly distributed in pharmacies and drugstores. The brand aims to be present in an additional 1,000 stores by the end of 2024. The Korean brand Erborian, also acquired by the group in 2012, is experiencing stable revenue growth.

Thanks to market analysis and local habits, the group has developed a clever strategy of product differentiation according to the regions of the world where they are distributed. For example, its line of colognes is particularly developed in Brazil, where locals use this product significantly due to high temperatures.

Two months ago, L’Occitane caused a stir in the financial world by withdrawing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Indeed, on April 29, L’Occitane International SA, the brand’s parent company, announced that its chairman and majority shareholder, Reinold Geiger (who owns 72.64% of the capital), was preparing to buy back the outstanding shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with the support of Crédit Agricole CIB and Goldman Sachs, to delist the company. The financial operation cost approximately 14 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.6 billion euros). The reasons? Reinold Geiger currently prefers to avoid the vulnerability of stock markets sensitive to widespread geopolitical instability.

L’Occitane sells a hand care cream every three minutes and has 3000 points of sale in more than 60 countries.