Revlon is #19 on our Top Global Beauty Companies 2022 Report

Beauty Sales:

$2.1 billion

Key Personnel:

• Debra G. Perelman, president & CEO
• Thomas Cho, chief supply chain officer
• Keyla Lazardi, chief scientific officer
• Tracey Raso, managing director, Revlon Pacific
• Heather Wallace, president, Americas
• Charles Waters, president, EMEA
• Martine Williamson, chief marketing officer

Major Products/Brands:

Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Almay, American Crew, CND, Cutex Care, SinfulColors, Mitchum, Britney Spears Fragrances, Christina Aguilera Fragrances, The Elizabeth Taylor Fragrance Collection, John Varvatos, Allsaints, Juicy Couture, Alfred Sung, Charlie, Crème of Nature, Curve, d:fi, Ed Hardy, Natural Honey, Wildfox, Halston.

New Products:

ColorStay Satin Ink, ColorStay Skin Awaken 5-in-1 concealer, So Fierce! Eyes Wide Open Mascara, Revlon Professional Color Sublime, American Crew hair care line (relaunch), Prevage 2.0 Amti-Aging Daily Serum, Retinol Ceramide Line Erasing Eye Cream.

Financial Summary:

According to Debra Perelman, Revlon’s president and CEO, “2021 was a year of recovery.” The year began with tremendous uncertainty, with much of the world facing winter surges in Covid-19, limited access to vaccines, and many cities, states and countries under some form of restrictions. By the end of the year, however, all of Revlon’s key brands had returned to growth.

In 2021, the core brands of Revlon and Elizabeth Arden both returned to growth. Revlon’s growth was driven by the brand’s Color Cosmetics business, particularly in the important U.S. Mass channel, as well as the Revlon Professional business in EMEA. Strong innovation in the market helped fuel the brand, with products such as ColorStay Satin Ink liquid lip color, which was also the No. 1 lip launch of 2021 in the U.S. Mass market, and Revlon Professional Color Sublime hair color, with its vegan formula and recycled packaging.

In the Elizabeth Arden brand, the company continues to bring innovation to the skincare category, with the launch of Prevage 2.0 Anti-Aging Daily Serum, as well as Retinol Ceramide Line Erasing Cream. Additionally, Elizabeth Arden fragrances performed extremely well, with all key brands growing double-digits, especially the ingredient-focused Green and White tea collections.

The professional brands of American Crew and CND also had a strong year, as salons reopened and the channel rebounded. Revlon relaunched its American Crew hair care line, upgrading the formulas to be vegan with naturally derived ingredients and packaging made from 80% recycled plastic. In CND, Revlon leaned into its heritage of being on the cutting-edge of fashion with its seasonal, trend-driven color collections.

Finally, the Fragrances segment grew double-digits in 2021, which helped maintain Revlon’s No. 1 position in the U.S. Mass Fragrance market. Part of this segment’s growth was driven by the key brands of Juicy Couture and John Varvatos, which both launched strong innovations during the year.

Following incredible growth in 2020, throughout 2021, Revlon continued to grow its e-commerce business while strengthening its digital capabilities and expanding its e-commerce presence.

In 2021 the company launched Elizabeth Arden DTC sites in Spain, France, Germany and Australia, continued to grow its B2B professional platform across EMEA, and worked closely with its retailer.com and pureplay partners across the globe.

2021/2022 Highlights:

Revlon launched its Revlon Global Growth Accelerator (or RGGA) Program in March 2021. This program was implemented to support the company’s growth ambitions and to build the foundation for Revlon’s future. RGGA consists of three key initiatives: strategic growth, operating efficiencies, and capability building. In its first year, RGGA delivered over $50 million of cost reductions.

Still, despite a return to growth in 2021, things were not all peachy in 2022. On June 16, Revlon filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company claims that the Chapter 11 filing will allow Revlon to strategically reorganize its legacy capital structure and improve its long-term outlook, especially amid liquidity constraints brought on by continued global challenges, including supply chain disruption and rising inflation, as well as obligations to its lenders.

“Today’s filing will allow Revlon to offer our consumers the iconic products we have delivered for decades, while providing a clearer path for our future growth,” commented Debra Perelman at the time. “Consumer demand for our products remains strong—people love our brands, and we continue to have a healthy market position. But our challenging capital structure has limited our ability to navigate macro-economic issues in order to meet this demand.”

In July 2022, Revlon reportedly asked a judge to terminate office and retail leases at 200 Park Avenue South in New York in an attempt to save millions in rent. In court filings, Revlon’s restructuring officer, Robert Caruso, said the lease terminations could save the company $17 million in rent, adding that the rates on the leases are higher than those of “available alternatives.”

Also in July, Revlon partnered with Origin Materials, a carbon negative materials company, to develop advanced carbon negative materials for cosmetics. The partnership will enable the rapid development and commercialization of new sustainable materials for cosmetics packaging based on Origin’s patented technology platform.

In August 2022, Elizabeth Arden expanded its partnership with Ulta Beauty, launching in all Ulta stores in late August. Ulta’s in-store assortment at its new “Skincare We’re Loving Wall” now includes Elizabeth Arden’s best-selling SKUs. Moving forward, select stores will also have Elizabeth Arden skincare experts on the floor to enhance the shopping experience and educate customers on the various product offerings.

On August 9, Revlon announced that Victoria Dolan is retiring as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO). Dolan will remain with Revlon until September 30, 2022 to ensure a smooth transition of her responsibilities. Meanwhile, Matt Kvarda, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, joined the company as interim CFO, effective October 1. Kvarda will report directly to Debra Perelman.

Looking Forward:

“As we enter 2022, while we expect some degree of uncertainty to persist driven in part by a new wave of Covid-19, rising global inflation, and conflict in Europe, we anticipate sustaining the momentum begun in 2021,” Perelman said at the end of 2021. However, the start of the year was rougher than anticipated.

As reported, net sales were $922.2 million in the second half of 2022, compared to $942.4 million during the prior-year period, a decrease of $20.2 million, or 2.1%. 

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