Spain's Puig sees perfume sales swelling in double digits

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish fashion and perfumes company Puig expects shoppers to continue to indulge themselves in buying its products despite rising inflation, forecasting double-digit sales growth this year after a 40% jump in 2022, it said on Thursday.

The maker of Paco Rabanne and Carolina Herrera fragrances said sales rose to 3.6 billion euros ($3.92 billion) last year, benefiting from strong demand following the worst of the pandemic, and should reach 4.5 billion by 2025.

"It's something we believe is going to last" chairman and CEO Marc Puig told a news conference, predicting that shoppers would continue to spend money on beauty products after months of lockdowns.

Puig said the company's share of the global fragrance market via selective distribution reached a 10% for the first time last year.

Its profit jumped 71% to 400 million euros helped by price rises in line with inflation.

Even as the United States, Britain and Spain remain its core markets, Puig expects to grow in Asia, which generated 10% of its sales last year.

The company, which purchased a majority stake in luxury label Byredo last year, will focus on its brands in niche fragrance and cosmetics markets.

It will also seek to increase its presence in skincare and makeup.

"We are optimistic about the future...sales of this type of products have proven to be resilient to economic risks," the CEO said.

($1 = 0.9188 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons and Mimosa Spencer; editing by Jason Neely)