Luxembourg
www.loccitane.com
Sales: $1 billion
Key Personnel:
Reinold Geiger, chairman and chief executive officer; Emmanuel Osti, managing director; André Hoffmann, managing director, Asia-Pacific; Thomas Levilion, group deputy general manager, finance and administration.
Major Products:
Body care, face care, fine fragrances, hair care, toiletries and home fragrance products. L’Occitane International also own Melvita.
New Products:
Sun Verbena.
Comments:
For its most recently concluded fiscal year (March 31, 2011), L’Occitane International’s sales rose an impressive 26.1%, reflecting net sales growth in most business segments and geographic areas. Operating profit increased 19.9% to nearly $175 million.
“During the year, we continued to implement our strategic plan in boosting sales growth and strengthening our presence globally through accelerated store openings as well as putting in place investments for future growth and developments,” said Reinold Geiger, chairman and CEO. “As a result, we delivered solid performance across the board especially in emerging markets such as China and Russia.”
In fiscal 2011, the company increased the total number of retail locations from 1,541 to 1,828 and the number of its own retail stores jumped to 895 from 764. The latter includes 50 additional stores in Asia, (24 in China, 11 in Japan and four in Hong Kong), 58 in Europe and 23 in the Americas.
In the Asia-Pacific region, a marketplace where L’Occitane has accelerated its network expansion, combined sales in Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan accounted for 41.9% of L’Occitane’s total sales in fiscal 2011.
By business segment, net sales contribution from the “Sell-out,” “Sell-in” and B-to-B segments were $753 million, $236 million and nearly $33 million respectively.
R&D expenses for the year increased 27.4%, according to the company.
According to Geiger, looking forward, L’Occitane will further develop the awareness of its brands and the ability to attract more traffic into its stores, significantly increase customer base in its key developing markets including Brazil, China, Russia and Korea, and focus on further development of its US business.
