Baltic Export, Good for Business, Investments, Latvia, Markets and Companies

STENDERS is a cosmetics producer with 200 franchise stores in 22 countries worldwide. With 110 stores in the main cities of China, STENDERS has one of the strongest cosmetics retail chains in China. In 2014 STENDERS global retail revenues reached EUR 27 million. The success story of the brand has been based on high quality products and special packaging, store experience and successful franchise concept.

As of beginning of 2015, world class cosmetics industry manager Julien Laporte, has become the CEO of STENDERS. Laporte has previously held the positions of Board Member of the world famous French brand L’Occitane, generating over EUR 1 billion in sales, General Manager of UK cosmetics brand Crabtree & Evelyn, and CEO of L’Oreal Turkey. With the strengthening of the management team with international cosmetics management expertise and attraction of additional investment, STENDERS has ambitious plans for 2015, including own store openings in the vibrant cities of Singapore and London, as well as significant expansion of product portfolio.

“We have already stressed our determination for rapid development in the international market and willingness to attract new investments. Successful cooperation with BaltCap so far has proven that STENDERS is a stable enterprise with high global potential. Until now, the company operated as a rather small ship we steered on our own, however along with larger investments we are approaching deeper international waters at a fast pace. This creates the necessity for a manager with extensive global experience and we are happy to have found such a person” says Janis Berzins, STENDERS Chairman of the Council.

“The investment in Stenders is bound at making sure that the brand will flow in the same seas as the top competitors, like L’Occitane, Kiehl’s, Crabtree & Evelyn, since the brand deserves it fully. I have personally worked within the main competitive brands and I must say STENDERS doesn’t have anything to envy to its competitors. I would even say that STENDERS has a little something more! The international development will be anchored on the already very successful development in China, and STENDERS will leverage this success in the rest of Asia from 2015, starting with Singapore, Korea and many others will follow. We are working very strongly with STENDERS team to adapt the product portfolio to reinforce this Asian development, with specific product developments for this region that will be launched in the next months, and crossing these new borders is truly exciting. At the same, the ambition being to become a Global brand, STENDERS is planning to open two stores in London, the number one touristic city in the world. 2015 will be a great turn around year for STENDERS international development – but this is only the beginning” says the new CEO, Julien Laporte.

“We are extremely happy to provide financing for further expansion of STENDERS, which is one of the best examples of Latvian companies capabilities to create brands and products that are truly competitive on a global scale. We are satisfied that we can provide further funding from our state and EU supported fund, for the product portfolio expansion and working capital needs of a Latvian brand with global presence” said Astra Neimane, Investment Director at BaltCap.