Independent Franchise Partners (IFP), a London-based investment firm, has acquired a 5.2% stake in Shiseido Group, including shares in the cosmetics brands Nars and Drunk Elephant. The announcement led to a sharp 13.1% increase in Shiseido’s stock price last week, marking the company’s largest gain since May 2018. In its latest financial report, Shiseido revealed a significant drop in operating profit, which fell 73.1% YoY to RMB 7.58 billion ($1.05 billion). However, the company saw sales rise 1.8% to 990.59 billion RMB ($137.7 billion). IFP plans to offer strategic advice on Shiseido’s operations, continuing its track record of influencing corporate decisions, such as advising Kirin Holdings on a RMB 600 billion ($83.4 billion) stock buyback in 2020.