2 Websites for 2 different countries - Does SEO hurt?

Hi!

I am kind of a newbie concerning SEO and have a question regarding the following.

I have 2 domains for the same company, with different websites (this is required in this specific branch) but that contain the same products. The language is also different.

- mycompany.de

- mycompany.fr

Let's assume the .de website is the main site, the .fr site is not so important, but important to people searching in France. Does doing SEO on the .fr website hurt the .de main website? Can I optimise specifically just for searches in France?

Thanks!