Encouragingly, the trend has clearly improved since Sue Nabi took the helm. Appointed in the summer of 2020, the Algerian executive, a L'Oréal defector, is piloting one of the most ambitious restructuring plans of the moment.

When she took over, Coty had an enterprise value of $10 billion, including $8 billion in debt and $2 billion in equity. The situation has since improved, with an enterprise value of $12 billion, of which only a third is debt.

Margins and cash flow have recovered, as demonstrated once again by the Group's annual results, published yesterday. Furthermore, Coty, whose portfolio of licenses ranges from CoverGirl to Chloé, in addition of course to Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Bourjois, among others, claims to have grown faster than the beauty market over eight of the last twelve quarters.

In fact, sales are up 10% this year. Unfortunately, this performance is not reflected in operating profit, which is stagnating. The same is true of free cash flow, which reached $389 million over the last twelve months, a level comparable to that of the previous year - adjusted for exceptional asset disposals.

Coty bit off more than it could chew when it tried to absorb P&G's beauty division in 2016. Following this indigestion, which brought it close to bankruptcy, the group is trying to regain control of its destiny, notably through an aggressive deleveraging strategy that has enabled it to halve its leverage since Sue Nabi took office.

Investors have already welcomed these efforts, as evidenced by the sharp rise in the share price since then. Last year, Coty took advantage of this situation to open a second listing in Paris. To date, this small capital increase of $356 million - entirely redirected towards debt reduction - has not had the desired effect on the valuation.

The market will undoubtedly have to be given further assurances. Net debt of around $4 billion still represents four years of operating profit, and ten years of free cash flow. On the basis of its enterprise value, Coty is worth more than thirty times the free cash flow generated in 2024: confidence therefore seems to be well and truly back.

This confidence could be shaken by the bad news from China, which has already hit L'Oréal and above all Estée Lauder.