Not vested
Cosmetics maker charts expansion by Mandy Lo
Monday, December 20, 2010
French cosmetics firm L'Occitane (0973) aims to
double sales in five years by expanding its
retail network in emerging and developed markets, Asia Pacific president Andre Hoffmann told The Standard.
Based on its turnover of 612.2 million euros (HK$6.26 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, L'Occitane needs to
increase sales by 15 percent each year to 2015 to achieve the goal.
The firm got off to a great start in the
United States, Hoffmann said, as sales there
soared 26 percent last month on Black Friday which marks the start of the US holiday sales. "This is far, far above the overall retail market in US, so we hope the momentum will continue," he said.
"I predict in the next five years China will have a very strong double-digit growth," he said. China may be L'Occitane's fourth biggest market in five years.
The firm opened
14 new mainland stores in the first half ended September 30 and expects to open 13 more in the second half, taking the total to 100 in early 2012.
"We are investing in both emerging markets and developed economies," Hoffmann said. "We still have many new stores to open because there are many cities where we are not present," he said, adding that the firm is interested in tapping Cambodia and Laos.
L'Occitane may open six to seven stores to add to the
18 it already has in Hong Kong. And it is renovating many of its current outlets around the world. Hoffmann said the company's first share placement in Hong Kong on December 10 was in reply to requests from institutional investors to increase liquidity and shares, after the lock- up period of the initial public offering expired.
The firm has no financing need as it is sitting on more than
270 million euros in cash and
uptapped bank facilities of 300 million euros.L'Occitane's share price surged 3.55 percent to HK$21.90 on Friday, a rise of 45.2 percent from its offer price of HK$15.08 when it listed in May.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 01220&fc=1
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