Germany’s largest perfumery chain Douglas cracked the sales mark of four billion euros in the past 2022/23 financial year. The group’s adjusted net sales rose by 12.1 percent to around 4.1 billion euros in the fiscal year that ended at the end of September, as the company announced on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. In the final quarter, the perfumery chain also defied the difficult consumer environment with growth of 9.1 percent.
“We are well on the way to continuing our growth course and achieving our goal of 5 billion euros in sales by 2026,” said CEO Sander van der Laan, commenting on the development. The company also announced that Douglas had made a “successful” start to the new financial year. According to the information, the important pre-Christmas business was “satisfactory” both online and in stationary stores.
In the last financial year, both stationary business and online retail recorded double-digit growth rates. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased by a good 22 percent to 725.9 million euros compared to the previous year. The bottom line is that after a loss of 313.8 million euros in the previous year, Douglas has now reached profitability: the net result amounted to 16.7 million euros. There was a net loss of 28.2 million euros in the final quarter, which was, however, significantly below the previous year’s loss of 231.2 million euros.
In order to reach the sales mark of five billion euros by the 2026 financial year, Douglas wants to expand its branch network according to the strategy program presented in the spring. The company is focusing on expanding its activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In 2022/23, the perfumery chain opened 39 new branches, 26 of which were in the CEE segment, including in Poland, Estonia and Romania. After entering the market, the first branches were opened in Slovenia – as well as in Belgium, as it was said. In addition, 76 branches were modernized. The group is also increasingly relying on online trading.
In total, Douglas has around 1,850 stores across Europe and employs around 18,000 people. (dpa)