Douglas upbeat on Europe's premium beauty market despite luxury slowdown
Adds comments from conference call in paragraph 2, 4, 8, cosmetics makers' results in paragraph 3
By Eva Orsolya Papp and Andrey Sychev
GDANSK, Aug 14 (Reuters) -Douglas DOU1.DE is betting on the European premium beauty market to keep growing despite a wider luxury market slowdown, the German perfume and cosmetics retailer said after it posted higher quarterly core earnings on Wednesday.
"We fundamentally believe that premium beauty will continue to grow in continental Europe ahead of the GDP or fast-moving consumer goods developments," CEO Sander van der Laan said during a conference call.
Cosmetics makers L'Oreal OREP.PA and Beiersdorf BEIG.DE recently reported earnings below expectations due to weaker sales in China, where Douglas is not present as it focuses exclusively on Europe.
However, the company still saw certain slowdown in growth in the quarter, although not as significant as its global competitors, van der Laan said.
Douglas, one of Europe's largest perfume and cosmetics retailers, has been banking on its core premium beauty business, where it sees robust growth across the region. That led it to raise its annual sales outlook last month.
However, its net loss more than doubled in the third quarter through June to 71.6 million euros ($78.7 million), after it used cash to reduce debt in April following its initial public offering.
The group, which sells beauty products from brands like Chanel and Dior, made a bleak return to the Frankfurt stock exchange in March, with its shares falling 12% below the issue price amid fading investor confidence in luxury and retail. Its shares have continued to slide since then.
Douglas needs to make further progress towards reaching a net profit next year, and thus will continue to reduce debt and will pay dividends only after, finance chief Mark Langer said.
The group's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 5.6% year-on-year to 162.9 million euros in the third quarter.
($1 = 0.9100 euros)
Reporting by Eva Orsolya Papp and Andrey Sychev in Gdansk, Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Milla Nissi
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