Beauty group Puig profit boosted by makeup, skincare demand amid fragance slowdown

By Mireia Merino and Marta Serafinko

GDANSK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Spanish beauty company Puig PUIGb.MC posted a 12% rise in 2025 net profit on Wednesday to 594 million euros ($703 million), as strong demand in makeup and skincare helped offset negative currency effects and slower growth in fragrances.

Puig, known for its perfume brands Rabanne, Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier, attributed the net profit increase partly to the absence of IPO-related costs booked in 2024, when net profit stood at 531 million euros. However, currency movements had a negative impact of 2.6% last year.

The results come as global beauty groups face slowing fragrance demand after several years of rapid post-pandemic growth, while Puig has also taken pricing actions and earlier inventory shipments to tackle U.S. tariffs.

Puig expects 2026 margins to be stable and like-for-like revenue growth to be ahead of the premium beauty market. Chief Executive Officer Marc Puig said he expects the company to offset tariffs and foreign exchange "with operational efficiencies and a favorable product mix."

J.P.Morgan said in an analyst note that 2026 is shaping up as a transition year for Puig, and expected management to give more details on guidance.

"The challenge is to predict how the supercycle will go to normalization ... So that's why we're a little reluctant to give numbers yet," Puig said.

Sales at constant currency climbed 7.8% to 5.04 billion euros, with demand for fragrances slowing, though its results remained within its annual guidance range, helped by makeup and skincare demand.

Fragrances and fashion, which account for about 73% of sales, grew 3.8%, while make-up and skincare categories expanded 10.7% and 7.3%, respectively.

The Barcelona- based firm proposed a dividend of 0.42 euros per share for 2025, maintaining its policy of paying out around 40% of reported net profit.

Its shares were up 4.6% to 16.92 euros at 1015 GMT, topping Spanish blue-chip IBEX 35 index .IBEX and among top performers on pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX

($1 = 0.8445 euros)