Estée Lauder rumoured to be circling Becca Cosmetics, e.l.f Cosmetics IPO exceeds expectations, Australia's third largest maker of supplements to open luxury stores, and parent company of Portmans and Peter Alexander breaks $1 billion sales barrier.
Estée Lauder rumoured to be circling Becca Cosmetics
In early August, we reported that two private equity firms, Castanea Partners and Main Post Partners, were teaming up to buy Becca Cosmetics for $US200 million. The deal has fallen through, even though senior executives such as Janet Gurwitch, founder of , and Michael McNamara, former Chairman of Too-Faced, were named as operating partners for Becca's potential new owners.
Several reports surfaced last week that Estée Lauder was considering a buyout of Becca Cosmetics. The brand certainly fits the profile of the niche brands snapped up by the beauty behemoth - Frederic Malle, Le Labo, Rodin Olio Lusso, GlamGlow and By Kilian - over the past 18 months.
All are indie brands with a story, an idea, a strong fan base and a heritage reminiscent of the multinational's namesake founder. Estée Lauder has done an incredible job turning trendy makeup brands such as , and Smashbox into multi-million dollar brands, and Becca's recent turnaround and social media popularity would make it an attractive acquisition.
e.l.f Cosmetics IPO exceeds expectations
e.l.f Cosmetics is in the vanguard of the youth-oriented brands global push, together with L'Oréal-owned NYX Professional Makeup and Too Faced Cosmetics, acquired by private equity firm General Atlantic in 2014. There was nothing budget about the market response to the company's eagerly awaited IPO, though. The 12 year old, California-based company, which mainly sells online and through key retailers such as Target, raised $US141 million on the New York Stock Exchange last week.
The fast-growing company will use the windfall to pay down $US204 million in debt to clear the way for an even more expansive future. Two years ago, private equity company TPG Growth bought a majority stake in e.l.f Cosmetics for between $US200 million and $US300 million. Skewed at Millennials and Gen Z, e.l.f posted sales of $US50 million to June - a jump of 33 per cent over the previous year.
The IPO exceeded analysts expectations. TPG Growth manages over $US7 billion in assets across key sectors including consumer goods, media and technology. the perfect partner to build e.l.f Cosmetics into a real contender and accelerate its ongoing growth.
Australia's third largest maker of supplements to open luxury stores
It's rare for a vitamin and supplement brand to compare itself to Prada, Gucci and Dior. But Nature's Care, Australia's third largest maker of supplements, claims that the company's "black label" range is as super-premium in its category as some of the biggest names in fashion. Following a 151 per cent increase in year-on-year sales in the first nine months of the year, Nature's Care has announced it will open its own luxury retail stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
China has become a core market for Nature's Care and exports have soared. The design of the new stores will follow the template set by Nespresso and premium wine outlets, says Steven Collett, general manager of Nature's Care. "This is a very exciting time for Nature's Care as we extend our supply chain from R&D through manufacturing production, to now be able to sell direct to consumer in fully-owned premium stores".
Strong demand from China and Australia has kept Nature's Care in full production capacity all year. The company targets well-heeled Asian tourists and locals with bestsellers including MEGA B Energy Booster.
Parent company of Portmans and Peter Alexander breaks $1 billion sales barrier
Most shoppers aren't familiar with the name Premier Investments, in spite of the fact that its brands enjoy household name status. We're talking Peter Alexander, Portmans, the Just Group and Smiggle. Owned by retail billionaire, Solomon Lew, total sales revenue jumped 11 per cent in the year to July 30th to break though the billon dollar barrier at $1.049 billion
It was double digit growth all the way with sales at star performer, Smiggle, the stationery retailer, up 41.8 per cent. New stores in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia and Hong Kong were strong drivers of growth. Peter Alexander achieved sales growth of 20.4 per cent for the year, said Mr Lew, thanks to the opening of 11 new stores, strong LFL growth, innovative products.
Premier Investment's full year net profits spiked 18 per cent to $103.9 million under the stewardship of what's been called Australia's retail Dream Team of Mr Lew and CEO Mark McInnes, former CEO of David Jones. "The 2016 result demonstrates the continued successful implementation of the Premier Retail Strategy to drive growth through Smiggle, Peter Alexander and our online offer while rejuvenating our core brands and improving efficiencies", noted Mr Lew.
Snippets from the wires
- Australia's first glass gridshell roof in a shopping centre will be officially unveiled at Melbourne's Chadstone on October 13th. Covering more than 7000 square metres of roof area, the glittering lattice framework will shelter more than 60 stores, a new dining terrace and cinema complex.
- Oroton, and Mimco are three of the dominant accessories and handbag brands battling it out to attract Australian Millennials. Oroton suffered a 68 per cent drop in annual profit in the 2014/15 fiscal year, but has bounced back strongly. The company's profit rose 31 per cent in the year to July to $3.4 million. Revamped store layouts and innovative new products boosted annual sales by two per cent.
- Shiseido's travel retail division will showcase a portfolio of new fragrances at the TFWA World exhibition in Cannes next month. Dolce & Gabbana, the latest member of the Japanese giant's fragrance stable, will have a significant presence alongside , Alaia Paris and . According to Elisabeth Jouguelet, Vice President Marketing: "With Dolce & Gabbana, we are implementing an exciting new era of growth and development. Our aim is for fragrances to represent 42 per cent of our total retail sales by 2020".
- The Italian economy may be sputtering, but Italy's fashion exports continue to surge. International sales of clothing, accessories, footwear and more climbed to 48 billion euros ($AUD70.64 billion) in 2015. The US, South Korea and China are the top three markets for Italian style.
- Unilever may be in talks to buy Jessica Alba's The Honest Company. But the multinational has bought Seventh Generation, an American brand pulling in $US200 million a year for its plant-based detergents and household cleaners. Very similar territory to many of The Honest Company's products and a further foot-in-the-door in the dynamic US market.
- Procter & Gamble have created a new role - global media director. The first incumbent will be Gerry D'Angelo, a media executive with Mondelez International, the snack food giant. His task? To oversee the world's largest media budget of around $US7.2 billion.
- Hearst Magazines has teamed with Farouk Systems, maker of Kardashian Beauty and BioSilk, to launch The Esquire Ultimate Grooming Collection. A first for the storied men's magazine, the haircare line will roll out in professional salons in the US from mid-October.
- Terrorism isn't the only threat deterring Chinese tourists from visiting Europe. Last week, a Chinese traveller died of injuries from a mugging, and a large group of Chinese tourists was recently subjected to a tear gas attack while travelling in an airport bus. Both incidents occurred in Paris. Violent robberies of Chinese tourists in France have tripled in the past year. No wonder 50 per cent of Chinese tourists planning to visit Europe this year have cancelled their trips, says Jing Daily. Chinese tourists are increasingly flocking to the US and Australia, says the researcher, because they feel safer and the shopping is comparable to Europe. Chinese passenger traffic to Sydney alone rose by 12 per cent in July.
Image: @beccacosmetics
