«Forty years is an important milestone. We were a small contract manufacturing workshop, today we are a branded company with two consolidated brands of professional beauty, Davines for haircare and Comfort Zone for skincare, we are a multinational present in 90 countries worldwide, with eight branches in addition to the Parma office, revenues that have grown steadily over the last twenty years, excellent margins and good cash generation that allow us to continue investing in research, sustainability and in our growth path». Davide Bollati, president of the Davines group, traces the history of a family business that has become an international group with a turnover of 230 million euros – with the forecast of exceeding 250 million this year – and an export share of 80%.
And he adds: «In our Davines Group Village in Parma we set up an exhibition to retrace these 40 years and it became even more clear to us how much our future is written in our past. We are a family business, we have passed an important test for all companies like ours, the generational handover, remaining anchored to the values on which the group was built: a humanistic capitalism that pursues objectives that go beyond profit, starting from an inclusive and sustainable regenerative socio-economic model that creates and distributes value among all stakeholders».
Forty years that go from the launch phase, with the imprinting of the founders – Davide Bollati’s parents – strongly linked to the territory, to the link with the countryside, to industriousness and to the spirit of sacrifice, at the beginning of the 90s, with Davide’s entry into the company – after specializing in Cosmetology in the United States, as well as graduating in Pharmacy from the University of Parma – with the transformation into a branded company and the start of exports; until the new millennium when sustainability becomes a priority and the internationalization process accelerates with the opening of the first branches abroad. Finally, in the last ten years, growth has consolidated, investments in research and development and foreign branches have increased and the new headquarters in Parma, the Davines Group Village, have been inaugurated, an emblem of corporate values where beauty, sustainability and well-being of employees.
And the future? «We aim to consolidate growth in the markets where we are present – continues Bollati -. This year we have opened a new branch in Germany, in Dusseldorf. In the coming years we want to grow in China where we have a branch in Hong Kong and where we opened in Shanghai in 2022, as well as in the markets of Korea and Japan. We will also continue to invest in R&D to which we allocate an average of 3.4-3.5% of turnover, particularly in the field of green chemistry: we have 60 chemists in 7 laboratories. In the last year, the challenge has been to find substitute ingredients in the formulations, given the difficulty of finding raw materials. We also want to further strengthen our team: we have 800 collaborators including 380 in Parma, last year we hired 80 new resources and this year we aspire to do the same. And then we will further increase our commitment to a sustainable growth model based on decarbonisation, biodiversity and circularity”.