The company confirmed it had made a marked recovery after a disappointing performance in fiscal 2009, attributed to the economic crisis and the fact that many consumers traded down during this period.
Overall group sales for the first nine months of 2010 increased from €11.95bn to €14.21bn, reflecting strong growth in all five of the company’s business divisions.
New launches drive perfumes and cosmetics
Sales for the perfumes and cosmetics division grew by 14 per cent to $2.24bn, which represented a 10 per cent increase in terms of organic growth.
The company highlighted the performance of the Christian Dior brand, which had particularly strong sales growth worldwide, further boosted by the successful roll-out of the brand’s new lipstick.
Likewise, the launch of the Abeille Royale skin care brand, together with feminine version of Givenchy’s Play fragrance were also mentioned as being particularly beneficial to the results in the third quarter.
Other business divisions report higher growth
However, compared to the company’s other business division the result for the perfumes and fragrance division represented the slowest growth rate. The highest growth rate was for the company’s wines and spirits division, which increased 22 per cent to €2.15bn.
The company’s biggest division, fashion and leather goods, reported a sales increase of 20 per cent to reach €5.46bn during the period.
With increasing uncertainty creeping back into the global economic recovery, the company said little about the outlook for the rest of the financial year, but did state that it would continue its focus on innovation and its targeted geographical expansion.