Retail Channels
On May 23, Miniso Group (NYSE: MNSO, HKEX: 9896) released its financial report for the first quarter of 2025. During the quarter, Miniso Group achieved steady overall performance growth, with multiple operational indicators such as revenue and gross profit margin exceeding expectations.
The financial report shows that Miniso Group's total revenue in the first quarter reached 4.43 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19%. The gross profit margin for the quarter was 44.2%, up 0.8 percentage points from the same period last year, marking the highest gross profit margin level in the first quarter in history. In terms of profitability, the adjusted (Non-IFRS) EBITDA for the quarter was 1.04 billion yuan, up 7.5% year-on-year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.4%. The adjusted net profit was 590 million yuan, and the adjusted net profit margin was 13.3%, highlighting the scale effect of global expansion and the effectiveness of refined operations.
Brands and Industry
On May 13, the public platform of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) showed that the "Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis/lactose fermentation extract filtrate" filed by the French Karinra Cosmetic Laboratory completed the recordation for a new cosmetic raw material and entered the public notification stage. The filing number is Guozhuangyuanbei Zi 20250050.
Recently, Coty released its financial report for the third fiscal quarter of 2025. The report shows that for the three months ended March 31, 2025, Coty Group's net revenue was $1.2991 billion (approximately ¥9.3 billion), a 6% decrease on a reported basis. For the nine months ended March 31, 2025, the Group's net revenue was $4.6405 billion (approximately ¥33.4 billion), a 2% year-on-year decrease, with operating profit of $225.6 million (approximately ¥1.6 billion), a year-on-year plunge of 56%.
By division, the Luxury Beauty division's net revenue in the first three fiscal quarters was $3.0596 billion (approximately ¥22 billion), accounting for 66% of the company's total sales. Despite growth in premium fragrances, net revenue from premium cosmetics and skin care categories declined, leading to a slight year-on-year increase overall on a reported basis. The mass beauty division generated revenue of $1.5809 billion (approximately ¥11.4 billion), a 7% decrease during the reporting period, with net revenue from body care and color cosmetics businesses declining, although mass fragrances and mass skin care products grew. By region, the Americas in the third fiscal quarter were affected by a weak U.S. market and declining business in Brazil; net revenue in the EMEA region fell 3%; and net revenue in the Asia-Pacific region dropped 5%, mainly due to the performance decline of high-end products in the Chinese mainland market and Asian travel retail channels.
Recently, Vichy Technology released its 2024 annual report, showing that the company's revenue was ¥248 million, a year-on-year increase of 50.23%; net profit attributable to the parent company reached ¥70.74 million, a year-on-year increase of 67.06%; net profit attributable to the parent company excluding non-recurring items was ¥66.92 million, a year-on-year increase of 93.32%; and the comprehensive gross profit margin was 65.76%. Among them, the revenue from cosmetic raw material business was ¥126 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.48%, with a gross profit margin as high as 80.23%. The revenue from ODM finished product business and OBM finished product business was ¥106 million and ¥10.8 million respectively. In 2024, the company's R&D investment was ¥29.5488 million, accounting for 11.93% of total revenue, and R&D personnel accounted for 19.29%.
Recently, POLA Group announced its first-quarter performance report for the period ended March 31, 2025. The report shows that POLA Group's net sales increased slightly by 1% year-on-year, but due to foreign exchange losses, ordinary income fell 47.1% year-on-year to ¥2.47 billion (approximately ¥120 million); net profit attributable to the parent company was ¥1.31 billion (approximately ¥63.71 million), a sharp year-on-year decline of 58.1%.
Recently, KOSE Group released its first-quarter financial report for the period ended March 31, 2025: net sales reached ¥78.9 billion (approximately ¥3.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 1.8%, mainly driven by the ALBION brand. However, operating profit was ¥6.6 billion (approximately ¥327 million), a year-on-year decline of 15.7%.
Recently, Intercos released its first-quarter financial report: as of March 31, 2025, Intercos' first-quarter net sales were ¥2.057 billion (currency unit: RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 13%; adjusted EBITDA reached ¥240 million, a year-on-year increase of 41%. The color cosmetics business rebounded strongly, with net sales of ¥1.292 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23%; sales in the hair and body care division were ¥475 million, an increase of 8%; and sales in the skin care segment were ¥290 million, a year-on-year decline of 10%. By region, the Asian market grew by 18%, the Americas by 17%, and Europe grew steadily. Intercos expects net sales for the 2025 fiscal year to increase by 7%-9%, expected to exceed ¥9 billion, reaching between ¥9.309 billion and ¥9.483 billion.
On May 7, the extract of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus stem/leaf/fruit from Guangzhou Huaxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. completed the recordation for a new raw material, with the filing number "Guozhuangyuanbei Zi 20250047".
Recently, LG Household & Health Care announced that its premium beauty brand The Whoo has achieved cumulative net sales of over 20.1 trillion won (approximately ¥105 billion) since its launch in 2003, which is extremely rare among single Korean cosmetic brands. In the first quarter of 2025, LG Household & Health Care's sales fell slightly by 1.8% to 1.6979 trillion won (approximately ¥8.86 billion), and operating profit decreased by 5.7% year-on-year to 142.4 billion won (approximately ¥740 million). The beauty division's revenue fell 3.4% year-on-year to 708.1 billion won (approximately ¥3.7 billion), and operating profit fell 11.2% to 58.9 billion won (approximately ¥310 million).
Recently, Unilever announced the closure of its clean beauty brand REN.
Recently, according to the NMPA public platform, two new cosmetic raw materials, vitamin K₂ (MK-7) and acetyl octapeptide-6, completed recordation on April 30, 2025, and entered the public notification stage. Vitamin K₂ (MK-7) was filed by Hubei Meiqi Health Technology Co., Ltd., which is the third time it has appeared in the public notification of new cosmetic raw material recordation. Acetyl octapeptide-6 was filed by Shenzhen Zhipei Aesthetics Technology Co., Ltd., whose parent company filed acetyl octapeptide-1 in October 2023.
Recently, Spanish beauty and fashion giant Puig released its first-quarter financial report for 2025. The report shows that it achieved sales of €1.21 billion (approximately ¥9.9 billion) in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Among them, the fragrance and fashion business performed strongly, with organic sales reaching €896.4 million (approximately ¥7.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 10.4%, becoming the main driver of growth. However, the cosmetics business sales fell by 6%, while the skin care business sales increased by 7.2%. In terms of geographical distribution, Puig achieved growth in all regions. Sales in the EMEA region reached €643.8 million (approximately ¥5.2 billion), accounting for 53% of total sales; sales in the Americas were €451 million (approximately ¥3.7 billion), and sales in the Asia-Pacific region were €111.1 million (approximately ¥900 million).
Recently, the clean color cosmetics brand RED CHAMBER (hereinafter referred to as "RED CHAMBER") completed nearly ¥100 million in Series A and Series A+ financing in May. The Series A+ financing was led by Shuiyang Co., Ltd., with follow-up investment from Jiebai Consumer Fund.
On May 13, Brazilian beauty giant Natura &Co released its first-quarter (January-March) financial report for 2025.
During the reporting period, Natura &Co's consolidated total revenue reached 6.7 billion reais (approximately ¥8.6 billion), including 1.4 billion reais (approximately ¥1.8 billion) from Avon International; recurring EBITDA was 790 million reais (approximately ¥1 billion), and adjusted net profit was 264 million reais (approximately ¥340 million); while the net loss in the first quarter of 2025 was 116 million reais (approximately ¥150 million), an 84% decrease from the net loss of 935 million reais (approximately ¥1.2 billion) in the same period last year.
It is learned that Shiseido Group recently announced that it will fully terminate the sales of Drunk Elephant in the Japanese market from June 30, 2025, covering all physical stores and e-commerce platforms such as Shiseido's online store.
It is reported that Shiseido acquired Drunk Elephant for $845 million in 2019 and officially introduced it to the Japanese market in 2021. However, with continuous performance decline, Drunk Elephant has become one of the brands with the largest decline in performance under the Shiseido Group. According to Shiseido's 2024 financial report, Drunk Elephant's global sales fell by 25% year-on-year, and after entering the first quarter of 2025, performance pressure further increased.
Reuters reported that Indian beauty brand Colorbar plans to launch an IPO in early 2027. Colorbar founder and managing director Samir Modi said Colorbar expects to double its revenue in the next fiscal year (starting April 1, 2025) to exceed 10 billion rupees.
It is learned that Palm Angels recently announced that it has signed a fragrance licensing agreement with beauty giant Revlon, planning to jointly develop a new series covering men's and women's fragrances and fragrance auxiliary products. The first series is expected to be launched in 2027.
Recently, Intercos, a global leading beauty contract manufacturer, released its first-quarter financial report for the period ended March 31, 2025. During the reporting period, Intercos achieved net sales of ¥2.057 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13%; adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was ¥240 million, a year-on-year increase of 41%.
It is worth noting that unlike the significant decline in the color cosmetics division's performance in the same period last year, the color cosmetics business of Intercos recovered significantly in the first quarter of this year, but its skin care business showed a 10% decline.
Recently, according to Reuters and other foreign media reports, UK color cosmetics group Revolution Beauty announced that it has launched a sales process, and potential buyers have already expressed acquisition intentions. The report said that UK investment bank and corporate brokerage Panmure Liberum is managing the potential sales plan.
Coincidentally, recently, South Korean daily chemical giant Aekyung Group also revealed that it will sell more than 60% of the shares of its cosmetics subsidiary, and the group's cosmetics business is mainly focused on color cosmetics categories, among which the most well-known product is the age 20’s cushion.
International Conglomerates
Recently, Shiseido released its first-quarter financial report for 2025. The report shows that as of March 31, the company's net sales were ¥228.241 billion (approximately ¥11.1 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 8.5%. Core operating profit was ¥8.251 billion (approximately ¥400 million), a year-on-year decrease of 27.2%, while operating profit was ¥7.202 billion (approximately ¥300 million), remaining flat compared to the same period last year.
By region, net sales in the Japanese market decreased by 2.4% year-on-year, China and travel retail markets by 12.1%, the Asia-Pacific market by 0.3%, the Americas by 14.5%, and the EMEA region by 9.2%.
Recently, Kao Corporation released its first-quarter financial report for the period ended March 31, 2025. The report shows that Kao's net sales reached ¥389.857 billion (approximately ¥18.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.6%; net profit attributable to the parent company was ¥22.85 billion (approximately ¥1.1 billion), a significant year-on-year increase of 38.7%.
Recently, French luxury giant Kering Group announced the issuance of €750 million (approximately ¥6.1 billion) in bonds. Kering Group stated that the bond issuance would help enhance its financial flexibility.
At the same time, according to foreign media reports, the funds raised from the bond issuance will be used for Kering's premium beauty business, including Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and the luxury fragrance brand Creed.
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