Puig revenues rose 4.1% on a like-for-like basis to €1.14 billion in the second quarter of 2026, the company said on Thursday. This follows a 4.7% sales increase in Q1.
“Puig delivered a strong first half of 2026, gaining market share across categories and geographies,” Puig CEO Jose Manuel Albesa said in a statement. “Our performance was broad-based, with fragrance and makeup continuing to lead our growth.”
Fragrance and fashion sales, the lion’s share of the business, grew 3.7% on a like-for-like basis to €819 million, notably driven by both prestige and niche fragrances. The prestige segment benefited from double-digit growth at Carolina Herrera, fueled by the successful launch of La Bomba in 2025. The niche segment also delivered double-digit growth, led by strong performances from Byredo and Dries Van Noten.
Makeup grew 9.1% to €188 million in the quarter, driven notably by Charlotte Tilbury’s expanded distribution rollout at Boots UK. Skincare sales slipped 0.3% to €132 million, with the company citing a tough premium market, as well as the reformulation of the Chantecaille Remagic Cream, which caused some disruption, and the discontinuation of lower-margin items like discovery kits. “We should expect a better performance [from skincare] for the second half of the year,” Albesa told analysts during a call on Thursday.
By geography, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) grew 2.1% like-for-like to €565.2 million. The Americas delivered 3.2% growth to €431 million, while Asia-Pacific revenues rose 16.1% hitting €142.4 million. The group said that the conflict in the Middle East weighed on its sales growth in H1 by approximately 0.6%.
Elsewhere, L’Oréal Group reported adjusted like-for-like sales growth of 6.3% in the second quarter. LVMH’s perfumes and cosmetics division reported a 1% organic sales decrease to €1.9 billion in Q2, while Hermès’s perfume and beauty sales slipped 9.5% to €107 million. Estée Lauder Companies will report its fourth fiscal quarter on August 19.
During Thursday’s call, Albesa outlined several upcoming initiatives for Puig, beginning with the launch of Jean Paul Gaultier’s new feminine fragrance, La Favorite. “This is the brand’s first major feminine pillar in a decade, which comes at the defining moment also in Gaultier fashion. The brand codes are also being reinterpreted by Duran Lantink as the first permanent creative director since Jean Paul Gaultier’s retirement,” he said. “A few weeks ago, we saw Duran’s haute couture debut collection, which was inspired by Marie Antoinette, a wink to the French royal court that is well aligned with the new fragrance and revisits the Gaultier legacy.”
Rabanne, meanwhile, plans to launch One Million Black fragrance, aimed at revitalizing the bestselling One Million franchise. “After several years of exponential growth, we saw performance at Rabanne reaching a plateau. In this scenario, we see a great opportunity to reinvigorate the brand through reinvention,” Albesa said. He added that the house’s new creative director, Olivier Rousteing, whose debut show is slated for March 2027, will reinforce “this Rabanne renaissance”. “Under his creative direction, the house will deepen the dialogue between fashion and beauty that makes Rabanne distinctive.”
The call offered no further comment on the end of merger talks with Estée Lauder Companies. After weeks of discussions, the two companies announced on May 21 in separate statements that an agreement was not reached. Albesa said on Thursday that Puig continues to evaluate M&A opportunities that are aligned with its long-term strategy.
The Spanish company will present its future roadmap at its Capital Markets Day, scheduled for October 28, in Madrid.