Why Coty CEO Thinks Now Is Right Time for Dual Listing
● Her comments come as Coty beat Wall Street expectations on top and bottom lines in its third quarter.
“European investors want to buy Coty stock. It's as simple as this,” said Coty Inc. chief executive officer Sue Y. Nabi of why the company is mulling a dual listing, as it released its latest set of earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.
The beauty company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, issued a statement Friday saying it was eyeing a dual Paris listing. It also revealed that it has extended its long-term partnership with Nabi, Coty CEO since Sept. 1, 2020.
“This is the right moment to do so. Eleven quarters in line or ahead of expectation is a good moment to start this,” continued Nabi, although she did not disclose any details on the time frame. “I would say that on the Paris Stock Exchange half of the market cap is made with beauty and luxury companies, and we are a beauty and luxury company.”
The third-quarter results will certainly help it on its mission. For the three months ended March 31, Coty's net revenues came in at $1.29 billion, up 9 percent year-overyear and beating analyst forecasts for
$1.23 billion.
Within that, prestige revenues grew 10 percent, buoyed by prestige fragrances such as Burberry Hero and Her, Gucci Flora Gorgeous Jasmine and Gorgeous Gardenia as the so-called fragrance effect remained in play, while Coty also began rolling out its comprehensive skin care strategy.
Last year, the company released new targets to double its skin care sales, reaching between $500 million and $600 million by fiscal 2025, with even more gains to come in 2026. As part of this, the Lancaster brand revamped and relaunched its most premium skin care collection on March 17.
As for consumer beauty revenues, they grew by 6 percent, with brands including CoverGirl, Max Factor, Rimmel and Monange enjoying double-digit sales growth. As well as prestige, the consumer beauty division is benefiting from the fragrance effect that has boosted the company for the past few quarters, Coty said. At the same time, it is seeing a pickup in color cosmetics, specifically in the U.S.
On a geographical basis, sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased 7 percent; in the Americas by 13 percent, and Asia-Pacific 4 percent, with the company pointing to strength in broader Asia and travel retail, and gradual improvement in China trends.
Nabi told WWD she is seeing continuing improvement in China in the current quarter.
“It's much better than Q3. As you can imagine, Q3 revenue was for half of it mainly under lockdown, more or less, the other hand was just reopening.…But step by step what we are seeing is clearly an acceleration at least in previous figures during the month that ended a few days ago. So we believe that this improvement will continue in the coming months,” she said.
In particular, it highlighted Lancaster skin care and new foundations from Burberry and Gucci as performing well.
China makes up just 4 percent of Coty's net revenues, meaning it has much less exposure than rival the Estée Lauder
Cos., which last week slashed its full-year outlook on the back of a slower-thanexpected recovery in travel retail in Asia.
"The strength for Coty is that we are starting from a low base," said chief financial officer Laurent Mercier during a call with analysts. "There is no retailer inventory. So this is really purely incremental."
Coty's net income was $105.1 million, up from $49.6 million in the prior year, due to the benefit from a mark-to-market on the equity swap, partially offset by a higher benefit in the prior year from a change in Wella's fair value and lower operating income.
Adjusted earnings per share was 19 cents, up from 3 adjusted EPS in the prior year. Analysts were expecting 3 cents.
Coty now expects full-year revenues for the core business, adjusting for the impact of the Russia exit, to grow between 9 and 10 percent on a like-for-like basis, up from the original outlook for 6 to 8 percent growth, even as it expects to implement another round of price hikes. It is expecting adjusted EPS of between 52 cents and 53 cents.
Nevertheless, Coty's stock closed down 3.2 percent at $11.72.