El Paso’s Helen of Troy has agreed to buy fast-growing, 11-year-old nail-care products company Olive & June for $240 million.
The sale is expected to be completed by the end of December, Helen of Troy officials announced Nov. 21.
A number of acquisitions over the years has helped 56-year-old Helen of Troy grow annual sales to more than $2 billion. Its last acquisition was in April 2022, when it paid $150 million for the Curlsmith curly-hair products brand.
Los Angeles-based Olive & June, known for selling salon-quality nail-care products to consumers, is projected to have $92 million in sales in 2024.
Its nail polishes and other nail-care products are sold at Target, Walmart, and Walgreens and through its website, (oliveandjune.com).
The “high-growth and high-margin” brand broadens Helen of Troy’s beauty-products portfolio beyond hair dryers and other hair-care products, Noel Geoffroy, Helen of Troy chief executive officer, said during a Nov. 22 call with Wall Street analysts.
Helen of Troy has a diverse portfolio of hair-care, health-care, household and outdoor consumer products sold under a number of well-known, national brand names, including Oxo, Hydro Flask, Vicks, Braun, Honeywell, Hot Tools, and Revlon.
“The (Olive & June) brand has multiple building blocks for growth, including a solid pipeline of new products, engaging commercial innovation, and meaningful distribution (expansion opportunities) in the U.S., and longer term internationally,” Geoffroy said.
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Olive & June will continue to operate as a stand-alone company with support from Helen of Troy’s shared systems’ platform.
Sarah Gibson Tuttle, the nail brand’s founder and CEO, known as SGT, will continue to oversee the company and its staff at its Los Angeles headquarters.
Helen of Troy officials did not immediately respond to questions about how the deal would affect employment in El Paso. But it appears the deal will not bring jobs to its El Paso headquarters, where several hundred people work.
The company is moving its headquarters to a Downtown El Paso office building in 2025. Its West El Paso office and warehouse complex was sold to manufacturer Eaton Corp., in 2023 for $50.6 million.
It employed just over 1,900 people at the end of February, according to the company’s latest, publicly reported information.
Olive & June, named after Tuttle’s great grandmother and grandmother, started in 2013 with three nail salons in the Los Angeles area. In 2019, it moved to online selling, which got a boost when nail salons were forced to shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In a little over a decade we have shaken up the (nail-care) industry by constantly innovating through all our consumer (channels),” Tuttle told the Wall Street analysts.
“Most importantly we did this at an affordable price, achieving our goal of truly democratizing the salon manicure —from our nail systems to our award-winning press-ons (fake nails), and our most recent launch of gel polish,” she said. “We are leading the DIY (do it yourself) nail revolution.”
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Olive & June is the first nail-care brand in Helen of Troy’s portfolio, Tuttle noted.
Helen of Troy is paying $225 million in cash and a $15 million earnout — additional purchase money that will be paid if the nail brand meets expected sales performance over three years.
Helen of Troy’s stock price increased after the acquisition announcement, closing at $71.67 per share Nov. 25. It was selling for under $60 per share in much of the second half of the year after selling for well over $100 per share for much of the first half of 2024.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.
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