Puig boosts fragrance revenues in first half of 2025
Barcelona-based beauty and fashion group Puig has reported “strong” results for the first half of the 2025 financial year (FY25), with fragrances appearing to underpin its performance.
The company reported net revenues of €2.3 billion in the first half of 2025. This represents growth of 7.6% on a like-for-like basis, meaning after adjusting for currency swings and changes in the business portfolio, and 5.9% on a reported basis, which reflects the raw headline figure. The Fragrance and Fashion division generated €1.7 billion in revenue. That part of the business grew by 8.6% like-for-like and now makes up almost three-quarters of Puig’s overall sales.
Puig’s brands include Rabanne, Carolina Herrera, Jean Paul Gaultier, Byredo, Penhaligon’s, and L’Artisan Parfumeur. Growth was buoyed by continued demand in prestige and niche scents, including double-digit increases at Byredo. The pre-launch of La Bomba, Carolina Herrera’s first major fragrance debut since 2016, was highlighted as a future growth driver.
Operating profit for Fragrance and Fashion edged up to €299 million, though margins softened slightly to 17.8% as Puig stepped up its advertising and promotional spend. This points to a sector-wide trend: fragrance houses are absorbing higher marketing costs to hold their ground in a crowded luxury market, while still relying on the resilience of consumer appetite for scent as an accessible luxury.
Geographically, Puig’s revenues grew across all regions, with the Americas up 10.9% like-for-like and Asia-Pacific surging 16.5%, led by South Korea and Japan. Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw slower but steady growth of 3.6%.
Adjusted EBITDA, a measure of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, often used to show a company’s underlying profitability, rose 8.6% to €445 million. This pushed the profit margin up to 19.4%, meaning Puig kept almost one fifth of every euro of revenue as operating profit. Reported net profit, which reflects the bottom line after all costs, climbed 79% to €275 million. That sharp increase was partly because 2024 results had been reduced by one-off expenses linked to Puig’s IPO.
Looking ahead, Puig reaffirmed its full-year guidance of 6–8% like-for-like growth. With the festive season still to come and the global rollout of La Bomba imminent, management expressed confidence that fragrance demand will remain strong.
Puig’s performance is a signal that premium and niche scent demand is holding steady despite wider economic difficulties. The company’s strategy of balancing blockbuster launches such as Herrera’s La Bomba with niche names like Byredo suggests it is hedging across both volume and exclusivity.
Margins are under some pressure from heavier marketing outlays, but the resilience of fragrance sales highlights the category’s strength. For the sector more broadly, Puig’s numbers imply continued momentum for fine fragrance, particularly in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
