Warpaint London’s success continues in Q1 as big-name stores stock up

The stage had been set early this month with Warpaint London promising impressive trading numbers, not only for the year ended 31 December, but also the current year’s Q1.

That positive update on 4 April was duly followed by 24 April’s full results and the stock exchange-listed beauty specialist had indeed performed strongly in 2023. That had also continued into 2024, with record first-quarter sales. Its shares were up almost 5% on Wednesday.

For the year, sales of the group’s branded products rose 47% to £84.8 million, driven by its lead brand W7 where sales jumped 64% to £57.4 million. Direct online sales also “continue to accelerate”, with a 121% increase in group e-sales in 2023 to £6.2 million, accounting for 6.9% of group sales, up from 4.3% a year ago.

Year-end pre-tax profit jumped 136% to £18.1million, a significant increase on the year-ago’s £7.7 million. 

And that strength continued with buoyant trading in Q1 as unaudited sales for the three months to 31 March lifted 28% to £23.5 million.

Chairman Clive Garston said the results reflected the delivery of Warpaint’s consistent and focused strategy…. “expanding our presence in large retailers globally, by growing our sales with existing customers, entering into relationships with new ones and increasing our online presence”.

That expansion was certainly impressive, with those large retailer deals including New Look, Superdrug, Boots and Morrisons in the UK. During the year, the affordable make-up brand opened in 71 Superdrug sites and was stocked in a further 200 New Look sites following a launch in 2022. 

In March, a full range of Technic products was launched in an initial 202 Morrisons stores in the UK while there was also expansion to a further 100 Boots stores during April, with additional W7 products stocked in existing and newly added stores.

A further rollout with Superdrug is planned for July into a further 63 stores, taking the number of Superdrug stores to 134, and an increase in the products stocked across all of them.

In the US, expansion also continues apace. Q1 included expansion into CVS, expanding the W7 range and a rollout to a further 387 stores; a significant Christmas order received from Walmart for W7 and Chit Chat product with discussions ongoing to stock the group’s year-round product; significant expansion planned with Five Below during H1 with an increased range of W7 product in all 1,544 of its stores; and a further 225+ Five Below stores expected to open in the next 12 months stocking W7.

Warpaint London also “ramped up expansion in Europe”, its largest sales region, for both the W7 and Technic brands including Normal, Etos and Wibra brands.
For good measure, W7 also launched in 100 Watsons stores in the Philippines in 2023.

Garston added: “Notwithstanding the continuing volatile economic environment and challenges facing our customers, I am optimistic that the strong performance we have seen in 2022, 2023 and now into 2024 will continue and that we have the right offering and strategy in place to continue to deliver profitable future growth.”