What will probably be next for Kering Beauté?

After months of speculation, the French luxury house in early February said it had begun taking its beauty activity back in-house, and that it appointed Raffaella Cornaggia chief executive officer of Kering Beauté — a latest position in a latest division.

She was charged with developing a team with expertise in the sweetness category for Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Pomellato and Qeelin.

On the time, Kering said: “The creation of Kering Beauté will enable the group to support these brands in the event of the sweetness category, which is a natural extension of their universe.”

Up until then the thrill had been intensifying about whether Kering would make such a move and if that’s the case, what form which may take, especially in regard to jewels within the crown, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, whose beauty licenses are held by Coty Inc. and L’Oréal, respectively.

Kering Beauté wasted no time and in late June made the daring move of acquiring Creed, the oldest existing high-end area of interest fragrance house, in a deal reportedly value 3.5 billion euros.

François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, said during a call regarding the group’s half-yearly 2023 results that Creed had revenues of around 250 million euros in 2022, with a really high EBITDA margin.

“We’ve got strong growth opportunities for Creed,” he said, noting the brand has very limited exposure to the Asia Pacific region, little to no presence in travel retail, and room to expand its women’s lines.

The Creed deal got here after Kering was within the chase to accumulate Tom Ford International, which eventually was bought by that company’s existing beauty licensee, The Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., for $2.3 billion. Kering was also reportedly interested by acquiring luxury brand Byredo, which was snapped up by Puig for an estimated 1 billion euros.

Over the past twenty years, luxury goods corporations have been taking back full control of the brands they own. That may pack a strong punch, giving them more consistency, synergies and power.

Today, amongst Kering’s other owned fashion and jewellery labels, Interparfums runs Boucheron’s business in perfume, while Lalique Group develops Brioni’s fragrance activity.

So what could possibly be next for Kering’s beauty division?

Might Valentino beauty be within the scopes? Kering in late July said it had bought a 30 percent stake within the Italian luxury brand as a part of a broader partnership with Qatari investment fund Mayhoola, with an choice to buy one hundred pc of Valentino by 2028.

Today, Valentino’s longterm fragrance license is held by L’Oréal, which became the licensee on Jan. 1, 2019.

Except for other acquisitions, there stays huge opportunities for Kering Beauté to grow the brands it already has in-house by strengthening their fragrance businesses and stretching into other categories, comparable to color cosmetics and skincare.