European beauty retailer Douglas reported a 3.2% increase in third-quarter sales of its staggered 2024/25 financial year to EUR 1.0 billion, marking a return to year-on-year growth after a 2.0% decline in the second quarter. Excluding online pharmacy Disapo, divested to Mya Health in 2024, sales were up 4.0% year-on-year. The Q3 performance was supported by the shift of Easter into April, which had weighed negatively on sales in Q2.
Central Europe drives growth
Sales developed positively across all segments with the exception of France, which continues to suffer from subdued consumer sentiment, as Nocibé store sales went down by 1.6%. Central Eastern Europe – the fastest growing region – continued its strong sales trajectory with +10.5%.
The net result improved significantly to a profit of 17.3 million euros vs a loss of 71.6 million euros in the prior year.
The group’s e-commerce sales, which sum-up to around a third of its revenue, saw an 8.2% boost, outpacing store sales, which rose by 2.1%.
“We have delivered solid overall growth and are on track to achieve our guidance for the current financial year. While customers in France keep a tighter hold on their spending, the good development in the vast majority of our 22 omnichannel markets brought us back to quarterly growth after a challenging second quarter. Our largest market, Germany, also picked up again and grew year-on-year. That said, we continue to do our homework: We remain committed to keeping SG&A [Selling, General & Administrative] costs under control and driving our strategic development, including strengthening our brand and advancing our supply chain and IT capabilities. These initiatives will make us more resilient in the future. We are confident that we are well positioned to seize the opportunities ahead in a market that continues to grow,” said Sander van der Laan, CEO of the Douglas Group.
Solid performance in the first nine months
In the first nine months of the financial year 2024/25, the group sales increased by 2.9%, or 3.8% excluding Disapo, to 3.6 billion euros (+2.4% like-for-like). Stores contributed 3.1% growth (+0.7% like-for-like) and e-commerce sales went up by 2.6%, or 5.2% excluding Disapo.
Adjusted EBITDA amounted to 634.1 million euros, down -3.5% year-on-year.
40 additional stores
Beyond financial results, the Douglas Group also confirmed good progress in the development of its store network and in its ambition to open around 200 new points of sale by the end of the calendar year 2026, while refurbishing around 400 existing ones. It has opened 22 new own stores between April and June 2025, including a new flagship store in Antwerp, Belgium, as well as a new Nocibé flagship store with 300m² of sales area in Europe’s largest shopping centre, Paris La Défense. In the first nine months of the financial year, the group has added 40 stores to its total network.
