Earth Overshoot Day is the day in each year that humanity is calculated to have consumed more natural resources than the planet can regenerate in a year. The pandemic pushed 2020’s Overshoot Day out to 22 August but it returned to 29 July in 2021. This year’s date for the earth as a whole has yet to be announced.
Global cosmetics company Coty, which owns brands such as Hugo Boss, re-affirmed its full-year guidance and increased its earnings per share outlook on Monday (9 May) on the back of ‘resilient demand’ for its luxury products.
In its third quarter results to the end of March, Coty revealed that sales in its ‘Prestige’ division, which covers cosmetics and fragrances from its high-end brands, rose 21% year-onyear, with particularly strong growth from Gucci Beauty, Chloe, Burberry and Hugo Boss.
Its ‘Consumer Beauty’ sales also increased 8%, with brands such as Rimmel, Max Factor, Sally Hansen and CoverGirl booking gains in market share. Sales growth was fuelled by the continued recovery in many European, Middle East and Asian markets, as well as continued momentum in the US.
Despite having increased prices as a way of “retaining talent and protecting margins, while also maintaining the necessary flexibility in our supply chain”, Coty said it had plenty of room to further build out both distribution and product portfolios.
The tobacco giant Philip Morris has confirmed it’s in talks to acquire the Stockholm-based tobacco products company Swedish Match, as it seeks to expand its non-cigarette business.
Shares in the Swedish company rose to record levels in early trading on Tuesday (10 May) on the news, while Philip Morris shares were marginally higher.
Best known for its Marlboro cigarettes brand, Philip Morris has invested more than $9bn since 2008 to develop smoke-free products for adults, “with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes” and delivering a ‘smoke-free future’.
Swedish Match’s smoke-free division includes its main product Swedish-style snuff called “snus”, while its relatively new tobacco-free nicotine pouch product, Zyn, is popular in both Scandinavia and the US.
This division accounted for around two-thirds of group sales in 2021, while its second-biggest segment, its US cigars business, accounted for just a quarter of sales.
