Asia-Pacific led global growth for beauty giant L’Oreal in the latest quarter, with sales rising 14.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
The region capped off a solid quarter of L’Oreal growth, with the company reporting global sales of euro 19.5 billion, up 5.1 per cent, like-for-like on the same quarter last year.
“In Northern Asia, China is achieving sustained growth, driven by L’Oreal Luxe, and by the strong vitality of e-commerce sales,” the company said in a statement. “Hong Kong is also growing strongly, with Chinese tourists continuing to return.”
In Southern Asia, growth was spurred by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, “thanks to the strength of our make-up brand portfolio in the consumer products division”.
“Overall, the group outperformed the market and strengthened its position,” said chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Ago of the results for the three months to September 30.
L’Oreal Luxe delivered a strong performance with double-digit growth, driven by the robust health of its four key brands: Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Kiehl’s, and the momentum of its recent acquisition, IT Cosmetics.
“The active cosmetics division is growing significantly, reflecting the quality of its launches and the good performance of CeraVe,” he said. “The consumer products division is reinforcing its positions in several major zones, but is still being slowed down by continuing difficulties in the American and French markets.”
Ago described the acceleration of sales in its so-called “New Markets” as the highlight of the quarter. He referred to “strong performances” in Asia-Pacific, particularly in China, but also in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
