Fragrances War

Douglas & Marionnaud are fighting over the Austrian perfumery market.

Douglas perfumeries from Germany are major players in Austria and mainly in Europe, their new expansions plan in France during 2006 is by acquiring the Lavigne Group with some 150 outlets, whose stores have previously done business under the name ELYTIS.

Marionnaud, the well know french perfumery stores, were founded in 1984 by Marcel Frydman, was acquired by Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson in April 2005. On the 14th of January 2005, Watson announced a cash offer of approximately €534 million for Marionnaud shares. Marionnaud is Europe’s #1 perfume retailer in terms of outlets. Nearly half of its stores are in France, where it has a 30% market share. But the ambitious French chain is expanding aggressively in Europe.

A.S. Watson is the retail and manufacuring division of Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong-Kong based conglomerate owned by Mr. Li Ka-shing.