Inter Parfums’ net sales tumble despite strong quarter performance

By Becky Bargh | Published: 26-Jan-2021

The year’s net sales were better than the French giant’s forecasted results from Q3 but were not enough to meet 2019’s results

French perfumery house Interparfums has reported strong sales for the three months ended 31 December, but this was not enough to level out a poor performance in 2020.

While net sales were 3.5% ahead of the company’s 2019 figures for the same period, up to US$184m, for the full year Jean Madar’s company saw a downturn of almost a quarter (24.5%).

Madar cited Montblanc, Jimmy Choo and Coach as a handful the highest performing brands for the quarter.

Most impressively was Anna Sui’s 62.3% growth.

Despite the reduction in sales for the year, the figures were a huge improvement on Inter Parfums’ forecast net sales decrease for 2020.

In September last year, Inter Parfums predicted a 38% downturn from the $713.5m sales reported in 2019.

At the time, Madar said the company would be “reasonably pleased” with this outcome.

“Sales in the final quarter far exceeded expectations and were in fact, better than our third quarter, historically our strongest,” said Madar.

For 2021, the group is expecting an influx of products in response to the postponed launches in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Madar added: “Our 2021 new product pipeline is abundant with new entrants for our European operations that include women’s scents for the Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, Lanvin and Rochas brands.

“For US operations, we have fragrance duos unveiling for Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister brands, and women’s scents debuting for Anna Sui, Guess, MCM and Oscar de la Renta brands, plus broader distribution of Anna Sui Sky throughout Asia is also planned.”

He continued: “Our responsiveness and the effectiveness of the measures undertaken in the spring produced better than expected sales in the second half.

“As a result, we achieved a solid annual performance which, while down compared to 2019, highlights the quality and strength of our brand portfolio.”

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