L’Oréal reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter sales on Wednesday, driven by robust demand for haircare products, mascaras and other beauty items, as the world’s largest cosmetics company continued to outperform the broader beauty market.
The French beauty giant posted sales of €11.6 billion ($13.2 billion) for the three months ending in June, marking 6.3% like-for-like growth after adjusting for the rollout of its new IT system. The result exceeded analysts’ expectations of 5.7% growth, according to a Visible Alpha consensus, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The company, whose portfolio includes CeraVe, Maybelline, L’Oréal Paris and Valentino fragrances, said its consumer products division delivered stronger-than-expected performance, helped by rising demand for haircare products in Europe and strong online sales.
Although overall growth eased slightly from 6.7% in the first quarter, L’Oréal continued to benefit from resilient consumer spending on beauty products despite economic pressures in several key markets.
Chief Executive Nicolas Hieronimus has previously pointed to the so-called “lipstick effect”—the idea that consumers continue buying affordable luxury items such as cosmetics during periods of economic uncertainty—as a factor supporting demand.
Europe, L’Oréal’s largest market, recorded 6.7% like-for-like sales growth, while North America, the company’s second-largest region, posted 5.9% growth, reflecting continued demand despite ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
Growth in L’Oréal’s luxury division, which accounts for roughly one-third of group sales, reached 4.7%, below analyst forecasts. However, the company reported double-digit growth in China, offset in part by continued weakness in the country’s travel retail sector, which has weighed on luxury beauty sales.
The results follow strong momentum across the beauty industry. Consumer goods giant Unilever also reported solid quarterly growth in its beauty and wellbeing business earlier this week.
L’Oréal shares have gained around 4% since the start of the year, reflecting investor confidence in the company’s ability to maintain growth across both mass-market and premium beauty segments.