Kering Beauté sales rise despite 'difficult start to the year'

While the broader luxury market faces headwinds, Kering Beauté has emerged as a glimmer of hope for Kering, posting a 6% rise in revenue for the first quarter of 2025.

The beauty division of the French luxury powerhouse reached €71 million (£60 million) in sales, thanks to a strong performance from Creed and its new feminine fragrances that are resonating with consumers across global markets.

Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, Kering's beauty business is proving more resilient than its fashion counterparts. While iconic fashion labels like Gucci and Saint Laurent saw revenues drop by 25% and 8%, respectively, beauty showed promise with its balanced global growth and increasing consumer demand for exclusive, high-end scents.

In contrast to the broader retail picture, Kering Eyewear and Beauté were the only segments to see an uptick in sales, up 2% and 6% respectively.

Creed, the heritage fragrance brand acquired by Kering in 2023, continues to elevate the Group's beauty positioning. Earlier this month, the group named Nathalie Berger-Duquene as CEO of Creed, replacing Sarah Rotheram, who departed the fragrance brand at the end of October. In this new role, Berger-Duquene will oversee the next phase of development for the business.

François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO, said: "As we had anticipated, Kering faced a difficult start to the year. In this environment, we are fully focused on executing on our action plans to reach our strategic and financial objectives and strengthen the positioning of our Houses on all our markets.

"We are increasing our vigilance to weather the macroeconomic headwinds our industry faces, and I am convinced that we will come out stronger from the present situation."