Coty CEO sets company on acquisition trail

21-Jul-2008 - Last updated on 23-Jul-2008 at 14:23 GMT

Fragrance-maker Coty says it is looking to acquire new brands in an effort to expand its cosmetics business and increase sales.

"Acquisitions are very important for our growth plans," said CEO Bernd Beetz in a recent interview with the Financial Times Deutschland.

Beetz acknowledges that this strategy will form a crucial part of the company's plans to increase sales from $3.3bn in 2007 to $5bn by the year 2010.

The company is set to extend its footprint outside of the fragrance category into the skin care category with the launch of the Home Skin Lab by Dr Pastorek Institute in the US and Europe in September 2008.

Coty aims at cosmeceuticals

At the time, Coty said that it was aiming to tap into considerable growth in the cosmeceutical category, particularly in the US.

It announced the deal with Home Skin Lab at the beginning of June, which follows on from the acquisition of color cosmetics brand N.Y.C Color and nail brand Sally Hansen in December 2007.

Coty's big push to expand with acquisitions began in 2005, when it bought up the fragrance division of consumer goods giant Unilever, which included the Calvin Kline fragrance brand.

Currently around 80 percent of the company's turnover is accountable from fragrance sales, with the rest accounted for by make-up and skin care.

World's biggest fragrance player

As the world's biggest fragrance company, privately owned Coty already has a significant presence in the global market.

For the year ending June 2007, the company reported sales of $3.3bn, up 14 percent from the previous year - approximately 55 per cent of which came from the prestige division.

Of the total sales for 2007, 33 per cent came from the Americas in comparison to a stronger 55 per cent from the European market.