FRANCE/JAPAN. The L’Oréal group is poised to up its stake in Shu Uemura, following an agreement signed yesterday whereby Nihon L’Oréal K.K., the group’s Japanese subsidiary, will acquire the majority shareholding in Shu Uemura Cosmetics Inc, the company that manufactures and markets Shu Uemura brand cosmetics in Japan.
Subsequently, just over three years after acquiring 35% of Shu Uemura’s Japanese operations, Nihon L’Oréal K.K. will at the start of 2004 increase its shareholding to 52.9% – and gain management control of Shu Uemura too. The international rights to the brand outside Japan were acquired by L’Oréal in November 2000.
“Shu Uemura will now benefit fully from the research, industrial expertise, marketing innovation and commercial power of the group,” commented L’Oréal president luxury products Gilles Weil. “This majority shareholding also enables L’Oréal to strengthen its position in the luxury sector in Japan, and boost the pace of this brand’s expansion all over the world.”
In a statement, the company added that the agreement “confirms the commitment of the L’Oréal group to developing Shu Uemura – the first Japanese brand in its portfolio – as a major global brand, while highlighting its specific identity and authenticity, and to making Tokyo the group’s third centre of creativity after Paris and New York.”
Shu Uemura’s turnover in Japan is estimated to hit around €70 million by year-end 2003.
Within travel retail, Shu Uemura has made good progress for the L’Oréal group this year, particularly in the Asia/Pacific region. “The group has been focusing on its Biotherm, Shu Uemura and Helena Rubinstein brands,” L’Oréal Produits de Luxe International marketing director travel retail worldwide Jean-Michel Bostroem told The Moodie Report.com earlier this year (20 August 2003). “On Shu Uemura, we plan to have 12 points of sale by the end of the year”¦We are in the process of fine-tuning the Shu Uemura model. It’s a big line, so we are streamlining the skus. It is best known for its make-up, but the skincare too is doing really well in certain locations; obviously in Asia the whitening line is important. And up to 15% of sales in travel retail are accounted for by brushes, which is meaningful business.”
Shu Uemura made its debut in European airport travel retail this summer, in the new Purple Lounge – operated by Sociéte Distribution Aéroportuaire (the Aelia/Aéroports de Paris partnership) – at Paris Charles de Gaulle terminal 2E (The Moodie Report.com, 26 August).
