MADRID (Reuters) -Puig, the Barcelona-based company behind perfume brands Rabanne, Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier, reported an 8% rise in first-quarter sales on Monday, beating analysts’ expectations.
The company reported 1.21 billion euros ($1.38 billion) in sales during the first three months of the year, beating a FactSet consensus of 1.19 billion euros cited by Renta4’s analyst in a recent note.
The results come as analysts expect global beauty companies’ revenue growth to slow, and with the looming threat of U.S. tariffs that the Spanish company priced in to its annual revenue estimate.
Puig maintained its expectation for a slowdown in revenue growth to 6%-8% this year following an 11% sales increase during 2024 partly due to tariffs in the U.S. at current levels, one of its biggest markets.
Chairman and CEO Marc Puig said the company expects any impact the tariffs may have will already be offset by the extra inventory Puig has in its U.S. warehouses.
“Plus a certain price increase that we will be implementing during the year once the stocks are depleted,” he said during a call with analysts.
Puig may have benefited in the first three months from stockpiling in anticipation of tariffs, but in the medium term it could be hit by the economic impact of trade protectionism, said Renta4 analyst Pablo Fernandez.
Sales in its core fragrance and fashion business grew by 10% in the first quarter, while the company’s make-up division fell 4.2%.
Competitor L’Oreal also reported a rise in first-quarter sales, beating expectations for slower growth, as strong demand for its creams and perfume in Europe helped counter challenging conditions in the U.S.
Half of Puig’s revenue comes from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and a third from the Americas, where the company’s sales grew 12% during the first quarter.
(Reporting by Corina Pons; with additional reporting from Marta Serafinko; editing by Charlie Devereux, Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski)
