L’Oréal has reported a robust performance for the first half of 2024, with sales reaching 22.12 billion euros ($36.6 billion), a 7.3% increase like-for-like and 7.5% reported.
CEO Nicolas Hieronimus expressed his satisfaction with the company’s results, highlighting balanced growth across value and volume in both offline and online channels. Despite challenges in the Chinese market and the travel retail sector, L’Oréal Luxe showed significant acceleration in the last two quarters. Europe and emerging markets experienced double-digit growth, with North America maintaining a steady pace throughout the first half.
“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,” said Hieronimus. “In this context, I am particularly pleased to see the acceleration of L’Oréal Luxe, the dynamism of Consumer Products, and the continued share gains of Dermatological Beauty and Professional Products.”
The Professional Products division achieved a 5.7% growth, driven by new product launches and strong e-commerce performance. Consumer Products grew by 8.9%, with significant contributions from L’Oréal Paris and new launches in haircare, makeup, and skincare. Luxe posted a 2.3% growth, with robust performance in fragrances and makeup, especially in North America and emerging markets. Dermatological Beauty led growth at 16.4%, driven by strong performances from La Roche-Posay, CeraVe, and Vichy.
In mainland China, the beauty market faced significant headwinds in the second quarter, with low consumer confidence affecting sales. However, L’Oréal’s strategic focus allowed it to achieve market share gains and continued growth in Dermatological Beauty and Professional Products segments. Travel Retail in North Asia showed signs of improvement, and Japan maintained double-digit growth, benefiting from the return of tourism.
Hieronimus remained optimistic about the future, stating, “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 multi-polar model will allow us to keep outperforming it and to achieve another year of growth in sales and profit.”
L’Oréal’s commitment to sustainability and innovation was recognized by Moody’s, which awarded the company 74 points out of 100 in its ESG Assessment, placing it well above the sector average.
Looking ahead, L’Oréal plans to continue its growth trajectory with a share buyback program set for the second half of 2024.
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