Luxe & Pro Sales Accelerate in L'Oreal Q3/9-month Results

Sales in the professional and luxe sectors picked up momentum in Q3, while dermatological beauty and consumer product sales lost steam. Overall, sales were resilient, but challenged, particularly in China.
Sales in the professional and luxe sectors picked up momentum in Q3, while dermatological beauty and consumer product sales lost steam. Overall, sales were resilient, but challenged, particularly in China.
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L’Oréal has reported Q3 2024 sales of 10,284.9 million euros, a gain of 3.4% year-over-year (all percentages like-for-like); nine-month sales 32,405.7 million, a rise of 6%. As with Coty's recent fiscal results, a picture is emerging of a resilient but slowing beauty market overall, with select L'Oreal categories offering growth opportunities.

Q3 and nine-month sales for professional products rose 6.1% and 5.8%, respectively; luxe sales rose 5.8% and 3.4% in the same period. Based on these figures, both sectors displayed increased momentum.

Conversely, dermatological beauty sales grew 0.8% in Q3, compared to 11.3% for the first nine months of the year, while consumer product Q3 sales grew 1.4% and nine-month sales increased 6.4%.

All regions grew (notably Europe), except North Asia, due to exposure to China's ailing market, a challenge seen in other multinationals' results. 

While all categories grew, fragrance and hair care were the most propulsive, per L'Oreal. The company also experienced volume and value growth.

Notably, online sales grew faster than offline channels, particularly in emerging markets. 

“We delivered solid growth of +6% in the first nine months, well-balanced between value and volume, despite multiple turbulences that have negatively impacted our third quarter," says Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L'Oréal.

He adds, "As anticipated, global beauty market growth has been normalizing throughout the year. In the developed markets, this has been driven by a gradual easing in pricing after two years of strong inflation; despite that, underlying market trends remain robust in Europe, and North America–as well as in emerging markets. The situation in the Chinese ecosystem has become even more challenging, but we believe in the future of this market and hope that the governmental stimulus will help improve consumer confidence."

Hieronimus notes, "Overall, the beauty category continues to grow, including in units, demonstrating once again its resilience and long-term potential. L’Oréal continues to outperform thanks to our innovation power, the agility of our teams and our capacity to reallocate our resources towards new growth engines."

The CEO concludes, "In a context that continues to be marked by economic and geopolitical uncertainties, we remain confident to achieve another year of growth in sales and operating profit and are preparing our own beauty stimulus plan for 2025.”

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