Pola Orbis Holdings shared its summary of financial results for the first nine months of fiscal 2013 (January 1–September 30, 2013), reporting net sales of ¥137.3 billion , a 5.9% increase over the same time period in 2012 (¥129.7 billion). Operating income for the time period increased 22.4% to ¥9.8 billion, ordinary income was ¥10.8 billion and net income for the first nine months of 2013 was ¥4.9 billion, a 33% increase over 2012's ¥3.6 billion for the same time period.
During the first nine months of fiscal 2013, the Japanese economy experienced a mild recovery since its deceleration precipitated by the European fiscal crisis, as personal spending picked up amid positive impacts on consumer sentiment of a weaker yen and rising stock prices resulting from domestic economic and monetary policies. For the domestic cosmetics market, due to the recovery momentum in the Japanese economy as a whole, the overall market remains strong. In the overseas cosmetics market, while slowdowns in personal spending are apparent in China and India, the whole Asian region continues to grow slowly. With this in mind, Pola Orbis intends to continue growing its domestic and overseas brands and business.
Specifically for the company's beauty care division, net sales for the first nine months of 2013 were ¥127.7 billion, 5.7% increase over the same period in 2012. Income for the beauty care division for the nine months of 2013 was ¥8.6 billion, a 29.7% increase over the previous year.
The beauty care segment of Pola Orbis Holdings includes flagship brands Pola and Orbis; brands under development, pdc, Future Labo Orlane, Decencia and Three; and overseas brands Jurlique and H2O Plus. Pola is making a concerted effort to boost customer satisfaction. This includes aggressively developing sales channels through Pola The Beauty stores, which integrate sales of cosmetics, consulting and esthetic treatments; through department stores; increasing customer contact points through the expansion of the door-to-door domestic market; and further enhancing Pola's sales process quality and consulting skills. In overseas markets, Pola continued to steadily ramp up the number of stores handling its offering the key Russian market while the department stores business generated steady growth in China, another important market. As a result, Pola recorded a net sales increase for the time period.
Orbis is striving to boost profitability by rebuilding its brand through such efforts as increasing the repeat purchase rate, enhancing skin care products, and increasing online sales. In the domestic market, the number of items purchased per customer rose on favorable demand for ultraviolet protection and other seasonal products, driving a year-on-year increase in amount spent per customer. At the same time, the number of customer decline temporarily, as Orbis constrained price reductions in its brand rebuilding efforts. In overseas markets, Orbis has continued to work to increase its brand awareness. In July, the company set up a subsidiary in Singapore as a strategic hub for accelerating growth in ASEAN markets. As a result, Orbis recorded net sales in line with 2012.
Meanwhile, due to strong sales of pdc, Three and Decencia, the brands under development recorded an increase in net sales versus the same time period for the previous year as well.
Furthermore, Pola Orbis Holdings' overseas brands saw an increase in net sales for the time period as well. A contributing factor was the consolidation of Jurlique in January 2013. Another factor was the establishment of a joint venture in April to accelerate business for the H2O Plus brand in China. Jurlique and H2O Plus enjoyed growth in Asia, while exchange rate movements were favorable.
