L’Occitane Unveils New Corporate Mission Statement, First Half Financials

L'Occitane Group has unveiled a new corporate mission statement: “With empowerment we positively impact people and regenerate nature.” It represents the next phase in its ambitious transformation into a geographically balanced, multi-brand Group, the company said in a statement released today.

According to L’Occitane, employees of all levels were invited to contribute to the mission before its launch internally last September. The board and its shareholders have approved amending the company's Articles of Association to include ESG considerations. The Group also created a sustainability committee and each member of the leadership team has signed a letter committing to be a steward of the company's mission.

According to L'Occitane, the three core principles of the mission are:

• To empower: the Group means to inspire innovation and unlock new opportunities for its stakeholders at every level, allowing them to create change and bring out the best in one other. This ethos extends to inspiring and bringing value to all its consumers and communities.

• To ensure the Group's actions have a positive impact on people is demonstrated by its unwavering commitment to the communities with which it works in terms of ethical sourcing, design, manufacture and sale of its goods. The Group firmly believes that everyone can make a difference by taking responsibility for one another and nature.

• To regenerate nature: focuses on nature and how the positive actions of all employees can have a direct impact on it. By joining forces, real change can be achieved across the entire cosmetics and agricultural industry.

“The most meaningful way to make a difference in this rapidly changing world is to work together. In that sense, the mission is what links and drives us: a genuine desire to have a positive impact on both people and nature,” said Reinold Geiger, chairman of the L'Occitane Group.

André Hoffmann, CEO of the L'Occitane Group,  said “the essence of the mission has always been fundamental to our business. However, as we continue to grow and welcome new brands on board, we recognize the importance of underlining our shared ambitions. We believe this is the perfect time in our evolution to introduce a new corporate mission that resonates with and involves all our stakeholders. As a group of synergistic brands, our clear mission will enable us to move forward together in a spirit of collaboration, mutual respect and unity.”

FY2023 H1

L’Occitane, No. 18 in Happi's 2022 International Top 30 Report, also released interim results for the six months ended Sept. 30 2022. Despite macroeconomic headwinds in key markets, the group maintained dynamic growth momentum in FY2023 H1. The results were broad-based – with growth coming from all key brands, all three geographic regions and all three key channels.

In FY2023 H1, reported net sales amounted to €900.5 million, representing 29.3% growth at reported rates or 20.8% growth at constant rates. The company mainly contributed the growth to the initial inclusion of recently acquired brands, Sol de Janeiro and Grown Alchemist, and “decent” growth of the group’s key brands.

On a like-for-like basis—excluding the newly consolidated brands Sol de Janeiro and Grown Alchemist, Russia due to the Group’s divestiture, the deconsolidation of the US subsidiary last year and at constant rates—sales growth was 5.9% in FY2023 H1, an acceleration from 5.1% in FY2023 Q1 to 6.7% in FY2023 Q2.

With most global markets now fully reopened, retail sales grew 4.4% at constant rates during the period, despite trading with 121 fewer stores as compared with the same period last year, said the company. Online sales also continued to grow, according to L’Occitane, with its online sales mix remaining significant at 29.4%. The group’s online presence was further supported by the inclusion of digitally-centric or digitally-native brands, such as Elemis and Sol de Janeiro, according to the company.

All key brands posted growth in FY2023 H1, with major contributions from Sol de Janeiro, Elemis and L’Occitane en Provence. Overall sales further diversified away from its core L’Occitane en Provence brand with Elemis and Sol de Janeiro now each accounting for more than 10% of its net sales.

Within its core brand, L’Occitane en Provence, travel retail channels rebounded stronger and earlier than planned, while brick-and-mortar channels were dynamic and online channels normalized. The core brand’s wide geographic presence also shielded its performance from stalled growth momentum in China and relatively muted growth in Asia, allowing it to capitalize on the rebound in other markets, especially in Europe. At the same time, its ability to quickly re-direct and target resources helped uphold its healthy operating profit margin of 11.4% (excluding exceptional items).

Despite the challenging environment, the proven resilience of our business ensured that we continued to maintain strong growth momentum and achieve another record interim profit. Meanwhile the next phase of our ongoing transformation into a multi-brand and geographically-balanced organisation was marked by the unveiling of our new corporate mission: With empowerment we positively impact people and regenerate nature,” said Hoffmann. “Although current macroeconomic headwinds are likely to continue and lead to cost ramifications in all parts of our business, we are highly focused on executing a strong holiday season. In line with our corporate mission, we have a clear and collective focus on the triple bottom-line – our people, the planet and profitability – and remain committed to harnessing the inherent strengths of our brands to deliver sustainable growth and profitability.”