THE WHAT? Coty has announced its results for the first quarter of its current financial year. In the three months to September 30, 2023, the US beauty behemoth saw sales surge 18 percent (LFL and reported), well ahead of expectations.

THE DETAILS Prestige led the charge with 23 percent sales growth yoy (reported) while Consumer Beauty put on a solid 10 percent.

In regional terms, EMEA was the star performer, delivering a 20 percent rise while Americas increased 17 percent, and Asia Pacific leapt 16 percent.

Given Coty’s strong Q1 delivery, the Company now expects FY24 LFL revenue growth of +9 percent to 11 percent, ahead of its recently raised guidance of +8 percent to 10 percent. For the first half FY24, Coty now expects LFL revenue growth of +11 percent to 13 percent, an increase from its previous outlook of +10 percent to 12 percent.

THE WHY? Sue Nabi, Coty’s CEO, explains, “We are proud of our great Q1 results, with sales growth once again amongst the best in our peer set and ahead of the beauty market. Coty continues to deliver on our balanced growth agenda, with strong LFL growth across both divisions and all regions, with growth contribution from volumes and premiumized mix, complemented by targeted pricing, and from our key categories including fragrances, cosmetics, and skin care.

“While the external environment remains complex and consumers are being considered in their spending, the beauty category remains advantaged, at the nexus of affordable luxury, self care, and confidence boosting. We remain well positioned to benefit from this strong beauty performance, while capitalizing on the multiple white space opportunities in our portfolio, including female fragrances, ultra premium fragrances, skincare, China and Travel Retail. These opportunities and our strong Q1 delivery enable us to raise our FY24 guidance for the second time this fiscal year.”