Warpaint London continues to thrive as it expands with major retailers

Warpaint London, the affordable beauty products specialist, said on Friday it has seen its “strong trading performance” continue and full-year results are now expected to exceed market expectations.

The owner of the W7 and Technic brands supplies a wide range of retailers and had already said in September (with its results for the half year ended June 30) that it had traded strongly after the end of the period.

This is further evidence of the so-called lipstick effect, in which consumers are clearly still willing to treat themselves to affordable beauty items even in difficult times.

Warpaint also said it has seen “significant growth across all geographic areas.”

All of this means group sales for the year ending December 31 should be at least £85m, up from £64.1m a year earlier, despite the key pre-Christmas sales period for the group is still ongoing.

Its gross product margin “remains solid and continues at a level higher than that achieved in 2022.” Pre-tax profit for the year should now “exceed” £16m, compared to the much lower £7.7m the previous year.

The company said its expansion strategy continues, with further launches scheduled for the remainder of 2023 and 2024 “with new major retailers and the expansion of the product range supplied with certain existing customers.”

This month’s launches, for example, include a range of W7 products in 400 Etos stores in the Netherlands and 100 Watsons stores in the Philippines, along with a range of Technic products launching in more than 200 Wibra stores in the Netherlands .

Further planned expansion with existing retailers includes stocking W7 in an additional 372 CVS stores in the US and 102 Boots stores in the UK during the first quarter of next year.