Today, POLA Orbis Group reported mixed financial results for the first half of fiscal 2025, as weak domestic and overseas sales weighed on performance despite improved cost efficiency. Consolidated net sales declined 0.7% year on year to ¥83,253 million ($560 million), largely due to lower revenue from its flagship brand POLA. However, thanks to a reduction in selling, general and administrative expenses, operating income rose 12.3% to ¥8,217 million ($55.7 million). Ordinary income dropped 43.5% year on year to ¥6,282 million ($42.6 million), impacted by foreign exchange losses.
In the Beauty Care segment, which includes the brands POLA, ORBIS, Jurlique, and developing brands such as DECENCIA, THREE, and FUJIMI, performance varied across portfolios and geographies. The POLA brand continued its efforts to rebuild growth momentum. In the domestic market, new hero products such as WRINKLE SHOT SERUM DUO and WHITE SHOT SERUM UV received multiple awards and contributed to sales growth at high-performing stores and across other sales channels. However, total domestic sales underperformed compared to the previous year due to a decline in customer traffic resulting from a reduction in the number of stores. In the overseas market, POLA focused on expanding its high-prestige customer base and strengthening CRM activities in China, its priority market. Nevertheless, an economic slowdown across parts of Asia, particularly China, led to weaker year-on-year results for POLA in both sales and operating income.
ORBIS centered its strategy on enhancing customer retention and increasing customer lifetime value. The brand’s first-ever cleansing oil, ORBIS THE CLEANSING OIL, launched in May, was met with strong demand, garnered several best cosmetics awards, and succeeded in acquiring new customers. In Japan, both customer numbers and average purchase value increased in the direct selling channel, while external channels maintained a high growth rate, leading to overall domestic sales growth. Overseas, however, ORBIS was impacted by sluggish demand in Asia and the decision to liquidate its Chinese subsidiary, resulting in lower international sales compared to the prior year. Although net sales for ORBIS increased overall, operating income declined due to upfront investments aimed at driving growth in the domestic market.
Jurlique continued its business development efforts in Asia, focusing on Australia and China. In Australia, e-commerce performance exceeded last year’s level, but sluggish results in department stores and company-operated retail stores led to overall weaker sales. In China, the ongoing economic slowdown hurt both offline and online sales, dragging down year-on-year results. Despite the sales decline, the brand was able to reduce its operating losses through organizational restructuring and tighter control over expenses.
Among the brands under development, DECENCIA reported stronger performance thanks to steady growth in its B2B and offline store businesses, along with an expanding customer base. THREE pursued a holistic approach centered on its essential oil-based brand identity, aiming to strengthen its customer base. However, new customer acquisition fell short of expectations, and performance declined year on year. The overall performance of the developing brands was further affected by weakness in the OEM business, resulting in lower net sales and operating income compared to the previous year.
As a result of these factors, total net sales to external customers in the Beauty Care segment declined 1.4% year on year to ¥80,200 million ($543.7 million), while operating income rose 2.2% to ¥8,064 million ($54.66 million). Despite a challenging environment, POLA Orbis continues to focus on strategic investments, product innovation, and cost management as it works to regain growth momentum and build a more resilient business structure.
