Beauty group Puig's first-half profit up 79% as it tackles US tariffs

MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish beauty company Puig, known for its perfume brands Rabanne, Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier, said on Tuesday its first-half profit rose 79% to 275 million euros ($322 million) as sales increased in anticipation of higher U.S. tariffs.

Puig said that part of the profit increase was due to extraordinary costs linked to the stock market flotation last year.

As most of European fashion, cosmetic and consumer brands, Puig mitigated the initial tariff impact by shipping most of its stock to the United States earlier in the year and passing some on the higher duties through price hikes.

But U.S. tariffs of 15% on most imported EU goods, agreed under a deal with the European Union in July, are 10 times higher than the average tariff on EU imports of beauty products before President Donald Trump's return to the White House.

The Barcelona- based group had reported 2.29 billion euros in sales in January-June, marking an 8% year-on-year increase roughly in line with the growth Puig projects for the full year.

($1 = 0.8530 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons, editing by Andrei Khalip)

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