PARIS — L’Oréal’s second-quarter sales swept past market estimates, bolstered by its Dermatological Beauty and Consumer Products divisions’ businesses.
The maker of Lancôme, Kiehl’s and Garnier products registered sales of 10.88 billion euros in the three months ended June 30, representing a 6.7 percent rise in reported terms and a 5.3 percent gain on an organic basis.
The consensus forecast from analysts was for a second-quarter organic sales increase of 1.3 percent.
In the first half of the year, the world’s largest beauty maker generated net profits of 3.65 billion euros, up 8.8 percent. L’Oréal posted sales of 22.12 billion euros in the period, up 7.5 percent on a reported basis and an increase of 7.3 percent in like-for-like terms.
In a statement released Tuesday after the close of the Paris bourse, Nicolas Hieronimus, chief executive officer of L’Oréal, said the group’s growth was well-balanced between value and volume.
A Garnier product.
Courtesy photo
“Our continued strong momentum in emerging markets, Europe and North America allowed us to more than offset the depressed beauty market in mainland China and the unfavorable comparative in travel retail,” he said.
In that context, he was especially pleased to see L’Oréal Luxe’s acceleration, which has been sequential quarter after quarter; the Consumer Products division’s dynamism, and continued share gains of the Dermatological Beauty and Professional Products divisions.
L’Oréal registered double-digit growth in Europe and emerging markets.
“The consistent increase of our A&P spend to support these innovations and our 37 international brands allowed us to, once again, outpace the global beauty market,” Hieronimus said.
He characterized that market as remaining “dynamic.”
“In an environment that continues to be marked by economic and geopolitical tensions, we remain optimistic about the outlook for the beauty market and confident that our innovation power and the robustness of our multipolar model will allow us to keep outperforming it and to achieve another year of growth in sales and profit,” he said.
Hieronimus will address financial analysts and journalists about the earnings during a call on Wednesday morning from company headquarters in the Paris suburb of Clichy.
