L’Oréal posted +20.7% like-for-like revenue growth (+21.8% at constant exchange rates) in the first half to €15.19 billion, a performance the French beauty products group described as “exceptional”.
Benefiting from a slight recovery in international travel and the success of Hainan, travel retail has “bounced back”, said L’Oréal Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus.
Travel retail sales in North Asia continued to grow in the second quarter, particularly in Hainan, the group noted.
Q2 saw a particularly impressive +33.5% surge in overall group revenues as the recovery gained momentum.
Hieronimus said: “With the health situation still uncertain, the beauty market is gradually recovering and has recorded double-digit growth. As a result of the determination and continued commitment of our teams, that I wish to warmly thank, L’Oréal is significantly outperforming the market, with an exceptional second quarter.
“By the end of June, the Group posted a very strong increase and returned to its pre‑Covid growth rate, up +6.6% like-for-like compared to the first half of 2019, with an acceleration of +8.4% in the second quarter compared to 2019.”
L’Oréal recorded market share gains in all Divisions and all geographic Zones, Hieronimus said. “This remarkable performance reflects the relevance and healthy balance of our multi-faceted model in terms of geographic footprint, brands and categories.
“Our geographic Zones have now been redefined around more homogeneous consumption areas*. All achieved double-digit growth. North Asia continued to perform well, still driven by Mainland China where L’Oréal continues to strengthen its undisputed leadership, while North America saw a return to growth with a tremendous acceleration in the second quarter.
“In Europe, L’Oréal significantly outperformed the market, which is starting to recover gradually; all countries in this Zone are growing, led by the United Kingdom, France and Russia. The Group performed well in SAPMENA-SS and in Latin America, with a marked progression in Brazil.”
Hieronimus said the company’s digital excellence has enabled brands to engage, recruit and retain consumers and partners alike. E‑commerce continues to grow, at a more moderate rate due to the reopening of retail channels, and now accounts for 27.3% of sales.
“The first-half results increased sharply and are of excellent quality.They are evidence of the L’Oréal virtuous circle: a strong improvement in gross margin combined with good cost control has enabled us to invest significantly in developing our brands and deliver once again an increase in profitability,” Hieronimus commented.
“At the same time, societal and environmental engagement remains a priority. In June, we launched the very first ‘L’Oréal Groupe’ global campaign, to make our consumers, shareholders and all our stakeholders aware of the actions behind our purpose: ‘Create the beauty that moves the world.’ We also unveiled ‘L’Oréal For Youth’, a global programme designed to boost youth employment by increasing the number of job opportunities for under 30s by 30%.”
Hieronimus said that L’Oréal has again gained strength in the early part of the year and is well positioned to continue to grow at its pre-crisis pace, leveraging on technology, data and Artificial Intelligence to become “the Beauty Tech company”.
He continued: “In the second half of 2021, we will pursue our offensive product launch strategy while at the same time investing in relevant growth drivers to spur the future growth and the desirability of our brands. We are more confident than ever in our ability to outperform the market and achieve a year of growth in both sales and results.”
