Mercatura Cosmetics buys two companies to expand in Germany

By Simon Pitman

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Perfume Future Cosmetics

German biotech cosmetics player Mercatura says it has acquired the
Munich-based businesses Ulrich Krause Kosmetics and the Sternmark
Cosmetics as part of plans to expand its fragrance business.

According to Mercatura the take-over creates a leading multi-brand-company in the cosmetic industry and marks a strategic step to expand and diversify its product portfolio.

The deal, the terms of which have not been made public, means that Mercantura's turnover is expected to more than triple, from €4.3m in 2005, to reach an estimated €14.3m in 2006.

The acquisition also means that the company now owns a host of leading perfume brands, including Academie, Ulrich Krause and Refectocil - brands that should help the company to boost its client base to cover around 30 per cent of the German cosmetics market and around 70 per cent of the country's perfume distribution channels.

Looking ahead to the future the company said that it expects the deal would bring about considerable synergies that are expected to boost the company's operating profit by around €1m in the full financial year of 2007.

The company said that this should impact favourably on the company's current growth rate and is already predicting that 2006 should be a record year.

Mercatura has signed a contract to complete the acquisition of both companies, a deal that is expected to be verified by national authorities in the next few weeks.

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