The perfumery chain Douglas has again lowered its annual outlook. Group sales growth in the 2025/26 financial year (end of September) is now expected to be between 0 and 1 percent, with revenue likely to be in the range of 4.58 to 4.63 billion euros. The SDax group surprisingly announced this on Thursday in Düsseldorf. Douglas boss Sander van der Laan had previously targeted the lower end of the range of 4.65 to 4.80 billion euros. Business development in the third quarter has so far been weaker than expected. Douglas shares fell by a good 7 percent in the afternoon and hit a record low.
“The purchasing behavior of customers and the market conditions have changed noticeably,” said CEO Sander van der Laan, according to the announcement, referring to the business development so far in the third quarter. Douglas had already trimmed its outlook at the end of April because consumers were paying more attention to the price and were more cautious when purchasing than expected.
Douglas now expects the operating profit margin before interest, taxes, depreciation and special items (adjusted EBITDA) to be around 15.0 percent in the financial year instead of one percentage point higher. The level of debt is also likely to be higher than previously targeted.
Douglas will present the figures for the third quarter on August 12th.