Household & Personal Care Products: Parisian Beauty

Research evidence excerpt

Household & Personal Care Products: Parisian Beauty

IdeaMpremium and lower price points, with the primary softness being in the middle

bracket. Regarding M&A, management noted that it was interested in acquisitions

which could accelerate the category, channel and geographic diversification. Please

see here for more detailed feedback.

Intercos: The company remains confident in improving trends in the global beauty

market in 2026, with an encouraging start YTD across regions (China and US

rebounding, Europe displaying better resilience than expected), and with optimism

further supported by a step-up in innovation initiatives that will come to market

through the year, particularly driven by western brands. Intercos noted that the

fragrances category in particular continues to perform very well (and ahead of

expectations, given the category is growing from an already significantly enlarged

base). Innovation is expected to remain a key differentiator, and the company

continues to invest in the development of proprietary raw materials in order to

maintain its competitive edge on innovation formulation, including in China. With

regards to supply chain, the company does not see any scarcity issues in raw

materials for the time being, but does expect higher costs (which it is passing

through in surcharges). See our video interview at the conference with Intercos' CEO

Renato Semerari here.

Unilever: Unilever was not present at our luxury conference, but we recently hosted

the CEO on a US roadshow. In respect of the beauty and wellness category,

management noted that the wellbeing industry is now worth $6.8trn and growing

12% pa, driven by the fact that people want to look and feel better, with a greater

focus. More physical activity, more prevention rather than correction mode.