Charlotte Tilbury UK and Europe sales reach £100m+

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 10, 2019

Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, the company that runs the star make-up artist’s UK and European operations, has filed impressive sales figures for its 2018 financial year with revenues reaching £100.9 million, a rise of 34%.

Sales beat the £100 million mark in the UK and Europe market for the first time ever, and the business reported EBITDA for the year of £3.8 million, up from £2.8 million in the prior year. Its net profit after tax was £3.5 million, a £0.9 million leap compared to the previous year.

It’s all fairly impressive for a company that was only set up by the star make-up artist seven years ago and that currently has just two UK standalone stores (in London’s Covent Garden and Westfield London).

But the brand has been raising its profile with TV advertising, new product launches and widening distribution. It’s also stocked in leading department stores and specialists such as Space NK and the brand operates eight stores overseas, having opened in LA and Hong Kong this year. Although the latter opening might be an issue at the moment given the protests there that are denting luxury retail, the territory remains a key tourist and shopping destination. The brand is also available in Europe via Sephora and last year it also relaunched its webstores in the UK and abroad.

All of this puts Charlotte Tilbury in the sights of bigger companies eyeing dynamic businesses to take over and The Telegraph reported that Estée Lauder had mulled a $1 billion bid back for control of the Tilbury operation in the summer, but it said the company was looking for a figure closer to $1.4 billion to convince it to sell itself.

Tilbury retains control of her brand but other backers include US venture capital firm Sequoia, photographer Mario Testino and model Stella Tennant.