Retail Channels

For the fourth quarter ended 1 January to 31 March 2024, Sa Sa International's overall total sales fell 4.1% year-on-year to HK$10.409 million, with offline sales down 8.7% to HK$8.647 million and online sales up 27.1% to HK$1.762 million, accounting for 16.9% of total sales. The group's offline sales have recovered to 44.5 per cent of its pre-outbreak level.

On 16 April, Douglas Group, Europe's largest beauty retailer, secured €1.3 billion (RMB 9.979 billion) in financing.

Authoritative release

State Drug Administration organised the drafting of "toothpaste pH test methods" and other 15 test methods, by the plenary meeting of the Expert Committee on Cosmetic Standards, and March 18 release. The test method of toothpaste pH "" toothpaste in the test method of mercury "" toothpaste in the test method of lead " and other 15 test methods for the new toothpaste test methods, included in the "Technical Specifications for Cosmetic Safety (2015 Edition)", since December 1, 2024 onwards, the toothpaste registration, filing and sampling test related tests should be used in the test methods published in this circular.

State Drug Administration organised the drafting of the "cosmetics toxicology test method sample pre-treatment guidelines" and other 19 revised projects and the formation of the corresponding test methods, by the plenary meeting of the Expert Committee on Cosmetic Standards, is hereby released.

Among them, "cosmetics toxicology test method sample pre-treatment guidelines" and other 12 development projects (see Annex 2-12) for the new test methods, into the "Cosmetic Safety Technical Code (2015 Edition)" (see Annex 1), from 1 December 2024 onwards.

On March 27, China Academy of Food and Drug Administration released "Interpretation of the classification definition of radio frequency therapeutic instrument, radio frequency skin therapeutic instrument products", which mentions that it is expected to be used to "lighten wrinkles (such as head lines, crow's feet, etc.), reduce fine lines, wrinkles around the eyes, to improve sagging, to enhance the apple muscle, Facial contour lifting, contour tightening, skin tightening, lifting and shaping, pore shrinking" and other radio frequency beauty products, should be managed as a Class III medical device.

According to the green eye extra, on the morning of April 1, in the major e-commerce platforms, search for radio frequency instrument has been "no such thing", yameng, for light, flower to, extremely budding and other well-known domestic and foreign beauty instrument brands have been removed from the shelves of the radio frequency beauty instrument products.

And, jittery voice, taobao, small red book and other platforms have long issued relevant rules to remind merchants, will be since 31 March or April on the radio frequency beauty instrument for clearance.

On 10 April, the CIQ issued a notice on the public solicitation of opinions on the Technical Guidelines for the Evaluation of Cosmetic Stability (Draft) and other opinions. According to the notice, in order to standardise the work of cosmetic safety assessment, CIQ has organised and drafted six technical guidelines or related requirements, including "Technical Guidelines for Cosmetic Stability Evaluation (Draft for Comments)" and "Technical Guidelines for Cosmetic Preservative Challenge Tests (Draft for Comments)", which are now openly solicited for comments from the public. The deadline for feedback is 17 April 2024.

Brands and Industries

On 25 March, Giant Bio Holdings Limited ("Giant Bio") released its 2023 annual results announcement. According to the report, in 2023, Giant Bio reported revenue of RMB3,524 million, an increase of 49.0%; gross profit of RMB2,947 million, an increase of 47.7%; profit attributable to owners of the parent company of RMB1,452 million, an increase of 44.9%; and net profit of RMB1,448 million, an increase of 44.6%. Giant Bio's revenue growth was mainly attributable to the rapid growth of its efficacious skincare products. in 2023, its efficacious skincare products achieved revenue of RMB2.647 billion, accounting for 75.1% of its main business. Medical dressings achieved revenue of RMB861 million, accounting for 24.4% of the main business.

By brand, Keflexa's revenue in 2023 was RMB2,788 million, an increase of 72.9% year-over-year, accounting for 79.1% of total revenue in 2023, while Colgate's revenue was RMB617 million, essentially flat compared to 2022, accounting for 17.5% of total revenue in 2023. Revenue from other brands was RMB103 million, an increase of 14.2%.

On 28 March, Liren Lixiang released its 2023 annual report. According to the report, the company's 2023 revenue was approximately RMB 2.762 billion, down 14.78% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was approximately RMB 29.53 million, a turnaround from a loss to a profit year-on-year. Liren said the turnaround in net profit was mainly due to the company's faster business growth in emerging channels, smooth progress of its own brands, improved inventory structure and overall expenses under control. Revenue from the company's incubated private brands grew more than 40 per cent year-on-year, and some of the brands are developing new products and expanding into new categories. The company's beauty and toiletry category will generate revenue of approximately RMB2.710 billion in 2023.

On 29 March, Guangdong Bawei Technology Co., Ltd. officially landed on the North Stock Exchange, becoming the "first share of the North Stock Exchange for beauty products", with the company's stock code of "837023".

On 29 March, Liuzhou Two Faces Needle Co., Ltd. released its 2023 annual report. The company's revenue in 2023 was RMB995 million, a year-on-year increase of 48.71%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB22.8067 million, a year-on-year turnaround.

On 26 March, Suzhou Mice Skin Cosmetics Co Ltd released its 2023 annual results report. According to the report, in 2023, Mice Skin reported revenue of RMB 152 million, down 0.98% year-on-year, and achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of RMB 25,444,700, down 5.41% year-on-year.

The Ayurveda Experience (TAE), a DTC beauty brand, announced the completion of a $27 million Series C funding round.

On 21 March, according to the HKEx, Jushuitan Group Co. submitted another listing application to the main board of the HKEx.

On 25 March, Guangzhou Tianci High-tech Material Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Tianci Material") disclosed its 2023 annual report. In 2023, the Company achieved operating revenue of RMB15.405 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 30.97%, and net profit of RMB1.891 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 66.92%. Among them, the revenue of the daily chemical materials and speciality chemicals business was RMB1.017 billion, down 10.43% year-on-year. Tinci Materials said it will continue to expand its market share in international MNCs such as L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, and will continue to expand its up-and-coming brands in conjunction with the current huge wave of national products.

On 26 March, Meitian Garden Healthcare (hereinafter referred to as "Meitian Garden") released its 2023 annual results announcement. According to the announcement, in 2023, Meitianyuan reported revenue of RMB2.15 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31.2%, and net profit of RMB230 million, a year-on-year increase of 108.2%. By the end of 2023, the number of shops officially exceeded 400, including 201 directly-managed shops and 199 franchised shops.

On 25 March, Chaoyun Group announced its 2023 results report, in which the group's revenue in 2023 was RMB 1.62 billion, an increase of 11.7% year-on-year; net profit was RMB 173 million, a jump of 164% year-on-year. Among them, personal care products reported revenue of RMB 61.4 million in 2023, down 4.6% year-on-year.

On 13 March, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives jointly approved legislation that would force TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the social media platform to a U.S. entity, or else TikTok's operations in the U.S. would be forcibly halted.

On 28 March, Fan Wenhua, the head brand of facial care, announced "a new generation of eye and face anti-wrinkle products" at Guangzhou's highest landmark, "Little Barbarian Waist", with Fan Wenhua's founder Fan Wenhua, brand spokesperson Huang Shengyi, and Chinese and foreign authoritative experts attending the conference.

On 8 April, Mao Ge Ping Cosmetics Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Mao Ge Ping") submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, to be listed on the main board. According to the prospectus, Maogoping's revenue from 2021 to 2023 will be RMB 1,577 million, RMB 1,829 million and RMB 2,886 million respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 35.3%; its net profit will be RMB 331 million, RMB 352 million and RMB 664 million respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 41.6%, and its net profit margin will be 21.0%, 19.2% and 23.0% respectively. Net profit margins were 21.0%, 19.2% and 23.0% respectively. In the past few years, Maogoping has been seeking an IPO on the A-share market, but has been blocked several times, and the company finally withdrew its IPO application in January this year.

On 8 April, Amica released its Q1 2024 earnings forecast: total operating revenue for Q1 2024 is expected to be RMB803 million to RMB826 million, an increase of 27.5% to 31% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is expected to be RMB510 million to RMB534 million, an increase of 23% to 29% year-on-year.

On 11 April, Swiss flavours and fragrances giant Givaudan announced its results for the first quarter of 2024. in the first three months of 2024, Givaudan's sales amounted to CHF 1.822 billion (RMB 14.506 billion), up 12.6% year-on-year, and up 2.8% in Swiss franc terms. By category, the Perfume & Beauty business reported sales of CHF900 million (approximately RMB7,166 million) for the reporting period, up 16.3% year-on-year and 7.5% in Swiss franc terms. Of this, sales of fine fragrances increased by 16.8 per cent. In addition, sales of consumer goods increased by 17.6 per cent, and sales of fragrance ingredients and active beauty products increased by 10.0 per cent.

On 10 April, UK beauty e-commerce giant The Hut Group ("THG") announced its annual report for 2023, reporting revenues of £2.05 billion ($18.8 billion), down 8.7% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was £114 million (approximately RMB 1,038 million), up 78% year-on-year. By business segment, revenue from its beauty business in 2023 was £1.120 billion ($10.2 billion), down 4.4 per cent year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA up 3.8 per cent.

On 3 April 2024, the European Commission issued Regulation (EU) 2024/996 amending the EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC) 1223/2009, which prohibits the use of 4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor (4-MBC) in cosmetic products from being placed on the EU market from 1 May 2025 onwards. The contents include: banning 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC), from 1 May 2025, cosmetics containing this substance shall not be placed on the EU market, and at the same time, from 1 May 2026, cosmetics containing this substance shall not be sold on the EU market; adding new α-arbutin, arbutin, genistein flavonoids, soybean glucosidic acid, tretinoin, retinol, retinyl acetate, retinol Retinol, retinyl acetate, retinyl palmitate and other restricted ingredients; revised the use requirements of triclocarban and triclosan; deleted the use requirements of the original 4-methylbenzylidene camphor.

On 31 March, data released by the Korea Trade Association showed that South Korea's cosmetic exports from January to February this year increased by 36.2% year-on-year to US$1.515 billion (about RMB 10.950 billion). Among them, exports to China rose 17.7 per cent year-on-year to $418 million (about 3.021 billion yuan), ranking first.

According to User Says data monitoring, Ximuyuan and Guyu 2023 have achieved significant growth in sales on all three major online platforms, with Ximuyuan, which was founded in 2019, achieving over 1.6 billion in annual sales, and Guyu, which was founded in 2016, achieving over 2.3 billion in annual sales. Among them, the sales growth of both brands on the Shake platform exceeded 100%, with Guyu growing by 106.43% and Ximuyuan growing by a staggering 133.48%. This data shows the strong sales capacity brought by the strategy of social media layout of the two brands.

On 18 April, Perrier Cosmetics Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Perrier") released its annual report for 2023 and the first quarterly report for 2024.In 2023, Perrier reported total revenue of RMB 8.905 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39.45%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB1.194 billion, an increase of 46.06% year-on-year.

In the first quarter of 2024, Perrier's revenue was RMB 2.182 billion, up 34.56% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB 303 million, up 45.58% year-on-year. In terms of brands, Perrier's single-brand annual revenue was RMB 7.177 billion, accounting for 80.73% of the total revenue, an increase of 36.36% year-on-year.

Caitang brand annual revenue of RMB 1.001 billion, an increase of 75.06% year-on-year. In addition, Off&Relax (OR), Yuefuti and other brands also achieved double-digit growth. By category, skincare remained the highest-selling category, with annual revenue of RMB7.559 billion, up 37.85% year-on-year, while beauty and colour cosmetics had annual revenue of RMB1.116 billion, up 48.28% year-on-year.

On 17 April, Jinfa Rabi Women's, Infants' and Children's Products Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Jinfa Rabi") released its annual report for FY2023. In FY2023, Jinfa Rabi's revenue was RMB204 million, a year-on-year decrease of 16.79%, and its net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB -0.023 billion, a year-on-year increase of 73.35%. 73.35%.

Yiyatong (002183.SZ) disclosed its 2023 annual report on April 12. In 2023, the company achieved total revenue of 94.422 billion yuan, up 10.57% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the mother of 141 million yuan, down 44.95% year-on-year; non-deductible net profit of 80,028.7 million yuan, down 68.50% year-on-year; and net cash flow from operating activities of 116 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 81.87%; during the reporting period, the basic earnings per share of Yiyatong was RMB 0.05, and the weighted average return on net assets was 1.58%. The company's 2023 annual distribution proposal is: to all shareholders to pay cash of RMB 0.12 per 10 shares (including tax).

April 16, according to the State Drug Administration cosmetic raw materials filing information platform, Yingteli joint-stock company (hereinafter referred to as "Yingteli") of the "bis - (phenyl azomethyl aniline bis - (triethoxysilylpropylcarbamoyl PEG-5/PPG-5 ethanol) sulfone" and "methyl methylsulfone" and "methylsulfone". "Methylbenzothiazole azomethylbenzenamine bis-(triethoxysilylpropylcarbamoyl PEG-5/PPG-5 ethanol)" completed the filing. 2024 Yingteli has completed the filing of four new cosmetic raw materials in the State Drug Administration. The other two are "Bis(hydroxyethyl)PPG/PEG-7/4 dicyanomethylthiophene azomethylaniline triethoxysilylpropylcarbamate" and "Bis-1,4(triethoxysilylpropylcarbamoylpoly(ethylene glycol adipate)propylamino)anthraquinone ". At present, the technical requirements related to the above four raw materials have not been disclosed.

On 16 April, the LVMH Group released its 2024 first-quarter financial report: it achieved revenue of 20.7 billion euros (about 159.3 billion yuan) in the first quarter, with organic growth of 3% year-on-year. Among them, the perfume and skincare business grew rapidly, achieving revenue of 2.182 billion euros (about RMB 16.787 billion), an organic growth of 7%. Selected retail business recorded 4.175 billion euros (about RMB 32.120 billion), an organic revenue growth of 11%. Among them, Sephora continued to perform well and continued to expand its market share. In terms of regions, sales revenue in Japan jumped 32% year-on-year, mainly due to purchases by Chinese consumers in the region. Outside of the Japanese market, Asia was the only major region to decline, with sales revenue down 6 per cent year-on-year, but it remains the group's largest market.

On 17 April, Evonik released preliminary financial data for the first quarter of 2024. According to preliminary and unaudited figures, Evonik's sales for the first quarter of 2024 were approximately EUR 3.8 billion (RMB 29,206 million), about 5 per cent lower than in the same period last year. This was mainly due to lower sales prices as a result of lower raw material costs. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter amounted to €520 million (about RMB 3,996 million), up 28% from a year earlier. By business segment, adjusted EBITDA for the Specialty Additives business segment was EUR185 million (RMB1.422 billion), up 10% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA for the Nutritional and Consumer Chemicals business segment reached EUR140 million (RMB1.076 billion).

On 16 April, Cosi announced its annual results for 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. In 2023, the company's revenue was about RMB 2.4 billion, up 35.99%, while net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about RMB 734 million, up 89.02%. By product, cosmetic active ingredients and raw materials recorded RMB2.07 billion, up 43.68% year-on-year, accounting for 86.27% of revenues, while synthetic fragrances recorded RMB308 million, up 6.83% year-on-year, accounting for 12.85% of revenues.In the first quarter of 2024, the company reported revenues of about RMB712 million, up 21.1% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was about RMB220 million. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was approximately RMB220 million, an increase of 37.16%. Ke Si is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of daily-use chemical raw materials, including sunscreen and other cosmetic active ingredients, synthetic fragrances and other products. Its products include sunscreens and other cosmetic active ingredients, synthetic fragrances, etc. Among them, the main customers of sunscreens and other cosmetic active ingredients include DSM-Fenmaiyi, Beiersdorf and P&G. The main customers of synthetic fragrances include Chilton, IFF, Colgate and so on.

On 16 April, the National Bureau of Statistics ("NBS") released retail sales of consumer goods for March 2024.Total retail sales of consumer goods in March amounted to CNY3902 billion, an increase of 3.1% year-on-year.Total retail sales of consumer goods in January-March amounted to CNY1203.27 billion, an increase of 4.7% year-on-year. In terms of cosmetics-related data, total retail sales of the cosmetics category in March 2024 amounted to RMB 41.1 billion, up 2.2 per cent year-on-year. from January to March, total retail sales of the cosmetics category amounted to RMB 108.6 billion, up 3.4 per cent year-on-year. Customs data, China's beauty cosmetics and toiletries category imported 30,454.9 tonnes in March, the import value of 11.82 billion yuan. 74,256.5 tonnes of cumulative imports in January-March, a decline of 17.1% year-on-year; the cumulative amount of imports in January-March of 25.89 billion yuan, a decline of 17.2% year-on-year.

On April 15, Jinbo Bio released the 2024 first quarter performance forecast: net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is 0.85 billion yuan ~ 105 million yuan, an increase of 97.65% ~ 144.16% year-on-year. The company continued to increase investment in R&D, actively research and development of new products and product upgrades, and efforts to increase brand promotion and market development, to achieve sustainable growth in revenue.

On 15 April, Hunan Lichen Industrial Co., Ltd. released its annual report for 2023.In 2023, Lichen Industrial's revenue was RMB 3.249 billion, up 6.72% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB 135 million, up 13.15% year-on-year; and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies, net of non-deductible, was RMB 126 million, up 19.17% year-on-year . The main business of Lixin Industry is the research and development, production and sales of surfactants and detergents, of which the revenue of surfactant business was RMB 2.996 billion, up 7.42% year-on-year, accounting for 92.23% of the revenue. The financial report pointed out that the product is the core raw material for personal care and household detergents such as shampoo, shower gel, hand soap, laundry detergent and laundry powder. Revenue from the detergents business was RMB202 million, up 5.80 per cent year-on-year.

On 15 April, Jiaodian Friends Holdings Limited announced that its gross merchandise volume (GMV) completed in the first quarter of 2024 was approximately RMB 2.432 billion, up 25% year-on-year. Make a Friend opened a three-platform live broadcast on Jieyin, Taobao and Jingdong, and created several vertical accounts, including beauty and skincare, trendy apparel, and living and home. Among them, the number of followers of the live account of "Make a Friend Beauty and Skincare" on Jieyin platform is 1,082,000 fans.

On the evening of 23 April, Water Sheep released its 2023 annual report and first-quarter financial results. According to the financial report, in 2023, water goat shares recorded revenue of 4.493 billion yuan, down 4.86% year-on-year; although revenue fell, but net profit jumped 135.42% year-on-year to 294 million yuan.

In the first quarter of this year, water goat stock performance failed to continue to grow, revenue and net profit both fell. The first quarterly report disclosed that from January to March 2024, a total of 1.032 billion yuan in revenue, net profit of 0.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 1.36%, 23.25%. It is worth noting that the quarterly net profit of non-deductible net profit increased significantly by 44%!

On 22 April, Shanghai Jahwa announced its 2024 first quarter results report. In the first quarter, the company achieved operating income of RMB 1.905 billion, down 3.76% year-on-year; achieved net attributable profit of RMB 256 million, up 11.18% year-on-year; achieved non-deductible net profit of RMB 293 million, an increase of 29.17% year-on-year, due to changes in regulations, according to the same calibre of measurement, the non-deductible net profit increased by about 45% year-on-year, of which the non-deductible net profit from the domestic business increased by increased by approximately 63% year-on-year. R&D expenses for the first quarter increased by 6.52% year-on-year. Herborist's traditional e-commerce business achieved rapid growth of approximately 49% in the first quarter. Megaman brand grew at a rate of about 44% in the first quarter.

On 19 April, Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Pientzehuang") released its FY2023 results report: in FY2023, Pientzehuang's revenue was RMB10.058 billion, an increase of 15.69% year-on-year; total profit was RMB3.369 billion, an increase of 13.14% year-on-year; and net profit was RMB2.851 billion, an increase of 13.14% year-on-year. Net profit was RMB 2.851 billion, an increase of 13.01%. Pientzehuang owns a number of cosmetic brands such as "Pientzehuang" and "Empress", etc. In FY2023, the revenue of its cosmetic business was RMB707 million, an increase of 11.42%.

Nivea's parent company, Beiersdorf Group, reported a 7.3% year-on-year increase in sales to €2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024, beating analysts' expectations of a 6.2% increase. This included a 10 per cent increase in sales at its skincare division, while sales at brand Tesa fell 5.4 per cent. Because of the strong first-quarter performance of its flagship Nivea brand, the group on Tuesday raised its sales forecast for 2024, expecting sales to grow between 6 and 8 per cent, compared with its February estimate of about 5 per cent.

The Beiersdorf group reported 2023 sales of 9,447 million euros, profit of 1,268 million euros and profit after tax of 749 million euros. Sales in the retail business were 7.78 billion euros.

On 25 April, BASF (BASF) Group released its first quarter 2024 financial results. The financial report shows that BASF's sales in the first quarter of 2024 were 17.553 billion euros (about 136.425 billion yuan), a year-on-year decline of 12.2%; operating income before special items (EBIT) was 1.754 billion euros (about 13.618 billion yuan), a year-on-year decline of 9.2%; Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was EUR2,655 million (approximately RMB20,618 million), down 5.6% year-on-year. EBITDA margin before special items was 15.4%, up from 14.3% a year earlier.

On 25 April, German flavours and fragrances maker Symrise announced its first quarter 2024 financial results. According to the financial report, in the first three months of this year, DZS sales reached 1.292 billion euros (about 10.040 billion yuan), up 5.0% year-on-year, organic growth of 10.9%. In terms of business segments, sales of D'Zsin's fragrance and care, fragrance application, perfumery chemicals, and make-up raw materials-related businesses amounted to 516 million euros (about 4.007 billion yuan), an increase of 13.7 per cent year-on-year, with an organic sales growth of 16.9 per cent. Among them, perfume grew strongly in the luxury market. The Aroma Molecules division also achieved double-digit growth in the first quarter. The Cosmetic Ingredients segment achieved double-digit organic sales growth in the first quarter of the year. Growth was particularly strong in the sunscreen and micro-protection business units. DZC said it has a number of measures in place to improve profitability, including a rigorous company-wide cost management efficiency programme.

On 24 April, Drozin's parent company, Reckitt Benckiser, announced its first quarter 2024 financials. The financial results show that in the first quarter of 2024, Reckitt Benckiser's net revenue was £3,737 million (approximately RMB 33,647 million), up 1.5 per cent year-on-year on a like-for-like (LFL) basis. The Hygiene segment reported first-quarter net revenues of £1,608 million (roughly Rs. 14,478 million), up 7.1 per cent year-on-year on a like-for-like (LFL) basis, while the Health segment reported net revenues of £1,538 million (roughly Rs. 13,848 million), up 1 per cent year-on-year on a LFL basis.

On 24 April, Amica Technology Development Corporation reported its first quarter 2024 results. According to the report, in the first quarter of 2024, Amica's revenue was RMB808 million, up 28.24% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to parent was RMB527 million, up 27.38% year-on-year.

On 24 April, Galderma (Galderma), the parent company of Staph, released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. In the first quarter of this year, the group's net sales reached US$1.071 billion (RMB 7.761 billion), exceeding the US$1 billion mark for the first time, with a year-on-year growth of 12.4 per cent at constant exchange rates, setting a record high. This is also the first financial report released by Galderma after its IPO. By product category, dermatological skin care products reported net sales of $351 million (RMB 2.543 billion) in the first quarter, up 8.4 per cent year-on-year. Among the brands, Cetaphil and Alastin both achieved double-digit growth. Net sales of injectable aesthetics for the first quarter were US$511 million (roughly RMB3.703 billion), up 19.3% year-on-year. Skin Therapeutics reported first-quarter net sales of $209 million (roughly RMB 1.514 billion), up 4.1 per cent year-on-year.

On April 22, Shanxi Jinbo Biomedical Co. released its Q1 2024 report. In Q1 2024, the company achieved revenue of approximately RMB 226 million, up 76.09% year-on-year; net profit attributable to mother of approximately RMB 101 million, up 135.72% year-on-year; and non-deductible net profit of approximately RMB 97,793,000, up 142.38% year-on-year.

On 22 April, Pepperidge released its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report. According to the data, Pepperidge achieved revenue of approximately RMB1,067 million in 2023, an increase of 1.58% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was approximately RMB92.51 million, a decrease of 4.93% year-on-year. in the first quarter of 2024, Pepperidge achieved revenue of approximately RMB286 million, an increase of 28.29% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was approximately RMB18.94 million RMB, an increase of 164.53% year-on-year. In terms of main business by industry, Pepperidge's revenue in the personal care industry was approximately RMB1.058 billion in 2023, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.53%. In terms of main business by product, revenue from oral care products was approximately RMB722 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.90%; revenue from wet wipes products was RMB336 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 9.88%, which was mainly attributable to the decrease in revenue from disinfectant wipes.

On 21 April, Jiaheng Home Chemical Co. released its 2023 annual report. According to the report, its 2023 revenue was RMB 1.016 billion, down 3.41% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB 40,164,300, down 42.39% year-on-year. During the reporting period, its cosmetics business achieved operating revenue of RMB 540 million, down 0.38% year-on-year, while its plastic packaging containers business achieved operating revenue of RMB 391 million, down 3.90% year-on-year.

On 22 April, Lancel released its 2023 annual report. The report shows that Lanzi achieved operating income of RMB 5.145 billion last year, up 24.41% year-on-year; achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of RMB 225 million, a year-on-year surge of 953.37%; deducted non-net profit of RMB 195 million, a year-on-year surge of 16,845.56%. By business segment, during the reporting period, medical beauty business achieved operating income of 2.126 billion yuan, an increase of 27.75% over the same period of the previous year; achieved gross profit of 1.130 billion yuan, gross profit margin of 53.15%.

On 22 April, Guangzhou Chuanger Biotechnology Co. released its 2023 annual report. The financial report shows that in 2023, Chuanger Bio achieved total operating income of 306 million yuan, up 26.48% year-on-year; attributable net profit of 46.88 million yuan, up 33.19% year-on-year.

E-commerce platform

Recently, Chinese social media Xiaohongshu's revenue in 2023 was $3.7 billion (about RMB 26.657 billion); its net profit was $500 million (about RMB 3.602 billion), making it profitable for the first time, according to foreign media, citing people familiar with the matter. Public information shows that Little Red Book's revenue in 2022 was about $2 billion (about RMB 14.409 billion), while the loss was about $200 million (about RMB 1.441 billion).

According to another data, Xiaohongshu reached 312 million monthly active users in 2023, an increase of 20% from 2022. According to foreign media calculations, Xiaohongshu becomes the fastest-growing large-scale social media platform in China in 2023.

On 10 April, Jingdong announced that it had invested 1 billion in cash and 1 billion in traffic as a reward to attract more original creators and high-quality content agencies. Jingdong said that on the one hand, it will subsidise darens in the form of cash covering more than 20 creative fields, such as beauty and personal care, fashion, health, etc.; on the other hand, it will bring more exposure opportunities for high-quality, original videos.

On April 2, Crypto e-commerce announced that its beauty cross-border industry has launched a whitening sunscreen season campaign, which will run from April 1 to April 15, and will launch targeted support policies for different fields such as short videos, live broadcasts, and distribution.

Recently, Jitterbug issued a "special governance announcement on the packaging of cosmetics Cosmetic samples", said that according to the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics" and other laws and regulations, cosmetic operators are not allowed to formulate their own cosmetics, the platform rules are also clearly stipulated in the ban on the sale of "packaging cosmetics". Although the major platforms are expressly prohibited, but the personal subpackaging cosmetics business is still very hot. It seems to be able to "taste the big brand" of personal sub-installation of cosmetics, in fact, is very easy to cause secondary pollution, safety hazards, and many consumers are worried about buying fake products.

On 8 April, Pinduoduo released the "Pinduoduo on radio frequency beauty equipment class goods adjustment announcement". Since 1 April 2024, merchants selling RF beauty equipment class goods should submit their Class III medical device business licensing qualifications and upload Class III medical device registration certificates and other materials for RF beauty equipment class goods before selling them. Traders shall not advertise RF beauty related functions when selling RF beauty equipment goods that are not Class III medical devices.

International conglomerate

L'OCCITANE L'OCCITANE announced that on 28 March 2024, the company entered into a sale agreement whereby the company will sell and transfer all of the company's directly and indirectly held interests in Grown Alchemist to the buyer, and the company will no longer hold any interest in the target companies 14 Groupe S.A. and Grown Alchemist. According to the agreement, the consideration for the transaction is €28,352,800, which will be paid on or before 30 September 2024 in cash.

In the morning of 9 April, L'Occitane (00973) HKEx announced a brief suspension of trading from 9 a.m. on 9 April pending the release of an announcement which constitutes inside information under the Company's Takeovers and Mergers Code.

Procter & Gamble recently announced its third quarter results for fiscal 2024. In January to March 2024, the company's net sales edged up 1% to US$20.2bn, below Wall Street's expectations, but diluted net income per share was US$1.52, an 11% increase year-on-year, beating analysts' estimates of US$1.42. P&G Beauty sales grew at an organic rate of 3 per cent, with sales in the skincare and personal care business declining in the low single digits due to lower sales of the SK-II brand. Regionally, P&G saw growth of 3 per cent in North America, 7 per cent in Europe and 17 per cent in Latin America, but sales in Greater China declined 10 per cent. P&G CFO Andre Schulten mentioned on a conference call that SK-II sales in Greater China were down a whopping 30% in the quarter, but that overall sales trends in the region are improving month-over-month, and that it will take one to two more quarters for growth to resume in earnest.

On 16 April, Beiersdorf AG announced its results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. in the first three months of fiscal year 2024, the group achieved sales of 2.6 billion euros (about 19.999 billion yuan), an organic growth of 7.3%. The Consumer Goods business unit achieved double-digit sales growth of EUR 2.2 billion (RMB 16.922 billion), an organic growth of 10.0%. Driven by balanced price and volume growth, Nivea and its portfolio of brands, including Labello, grew 12.6% organically in the quarter; La Prairie returned to growth in the quarter, with organic sales up 1%; and Eucerin and Aquaphor in the Derma business grew 10.2% organically in the quarter.

Duty Free Dynamics (Ready-to-Purchase and Ready-to-Collect)

Since 1 April 2023, Hainan Island Duty Free has added the new "buy-as-you-can" and "guarantee-as-you-can" modes of pick-up. In the past one year (from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024), the number of purchases made in the two new modes of pick-up has exceeded 4.3 million, and the amount of purchases has exceeded RMB 4 billion. The shopping amount exceeded RMB 4 billion. According to statistics, since the implementation of the island duty-free policy, Hainan's island duty-free shopping amount has exceeded RMB 222 billion.

On 27 March, China CDFG released its 2023 performance report: in 2023, China CDFG's revenue was RMB 67.54 billion, an increase of 24.08%; its net profit was RMB 6.714 billion, an increase of 33.46%.