Today, Japan’s POLA Orbis Group announced its financial report for the first half of 2024. The report shows that POLA Group’s consolidated net sales in H1 reached 83.836 billion yen ($587.9 million), a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%. Gross profit fell by 2.7% year-on-year to 68.778 billion yen ($482.3 million).
POLA Group stated that although the performance of department stores remained strong in the first half of this year, POLA’s consignment channel income in Japan declined. Overseas, income in mainland China decreased due to continued economic deterioration.
From a business perspective, the consolidated net sales of the beauty care business reached 81.322 billion yen ($570.2 million), a year-on-year decrease of 2.6%, mainly due to reduced income from POLA, which led to a decrease in gross profit and subsequently a decline in operating income. Operating income fell by 18.4% to 7.316 billion yen ($51.3 million), mainly due to the reduction in gross profit.
From a brand perspective, POLA brand’s net sales in the first half of the year were 45.966 billion yen ($322.3 million), a year-on-year decrease of 7.6%. POLA Group stated that while sales in department stores continued to perform strongly with double-digit growth, the income from beauty care stores in China increased in the second quarter, though the operating environment remained challenging.
ORBIS’s performance in the first half of the year exceeded the group’s expectations, with net sales growing by 14.8% year-on-year to 23.992 billion yen ($168.2 million). POLA Group reported an increase in both new and existing customers in direct sales channels, with continuous growth in income and profits. High-function, high-priced products such as ORBIS U. and ORBIS Wrinkle White UV Protector saw significant growth, boosting the average purchase amount per customer. Additionally, ORBIS’s external channels remained strong, growing by 88.7%.
Jurlique’s net sales in the first half reached 4.1 billion yen ($28.7 million), a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. POLA Group stated that despite challenges in mainland China and Hong Kong, they achieved growth by focusing on customer acquisition centered around new products in Australia. However, increased SG&A expenses for expanding new product sales led to unmitigated losses. Sales in mainland China fell by 13.7%, and sales in Hong Kong fell by 22.3%.
Looking ahead, POLA Group expects full-year net sales for 2024 to reach 179 billion yen ($1.26), with the beauty care department’s net sales reaching 16.8 billion yen ($117.8 million).
