173.1 billion, L'Oréal once again outperforms the beauty market

Continue to surpass the average level of the global beauty market

On July 31, L'Oréal Group announced its performance for the first half of 2024. Despite the continued challenges in the 

Chinese beauty market, L'Oréal's sales in the first half of the year still exceeded 22 billion euros (about 173.15 billion yuan), 

with sales increasing by 7.5% and net profit increasing by 8.8% to 3.65 billion euros (about 28.57 billion yuan).

Commenting on the operating data, Mr. Hieronymus Yeh, CEO of L'Oréal Group, said: "We have maintained strong growth 

momentum in emerging markets, Europe and North America, balancing the downturn in the beauty market in mainland 

China and the relatively unfavorable performance of the travel retail business. In this market environment, seeing the 

accelerated growth of L'Oréal's high-end cosmetics department, the booming mass cosmetics department, and the 

continued market share gains of the dermatology and professional hair products departments, we remain optimistic 

about the prospects of the beauty market in an environment where the global economic and geopolitical situation 

continues to be tense. We firmly believe that we can continue to lead the market with our strong innovation capabilities 

and a stable multi-polar model, and achieve another year of sales and profit growth."

China market decline

L'Oréal had hoped that the Chinese market would rebound this year, but it shrank in the second quarter. L'Oréal's 

second-quarter sales increased by 5.3% month-on-month to 10.88 billion euros, lower than the market's general 

expectation of 6% and lower than the 9% increase in the first quarter. The key North Asia region continued to drag 

down sales in the second quarter and the first half of the year, with sales in North Asia falling by 3.1% to 5.47 billion 

euros.

China's beauty market performed poorly in the second quarter, with negative growth in the overall beauty market and 

"continued" low consumer confidence. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the total sales of 

cosmetics in June 2024 was 40.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.6%. The operating environment of the 

Chinese beauty market in the second half of the year will remain challenging.

In an interview with foreign media, Mr. Ye Hongmu, CEO of L'Oréal Group, said that the Chinese market will remain 

slightly negative in the second half of the year, and Chinese consumers lack confidence and pay more attention to 

spending. In fact, as early as the end of June, L'Oréal Group lowered its expectations for global beauty market growth 

due to the continued weakness of the Chinese market. L'Oréal expects growth this year to be between 4.5% and 5%, 

instead of the previous forecast of more than 5%.

In the face of the slowdown in the Chinese market, L'Oréal adjusted its strategy to help the company through the 

economic downturn with the company's extensive brand portfolio. L'Oréal's strong R&D strength and unique 

marketing creativity combined enable the group to provide consumers with breakthrough innovations. In the Chinese 

market, L'Oréal gained more market share in the first half of the year with record-breaking performances in the 

Dermatology Beauty Department, Professional Hair Products Department and High-end Cosmetics Department.

Dermatology maintains strong momentum

The Consumer Products Division, the largest division of the L’Oréal Group, with Maybelline and L’Oréal brands, 

achieved strong growth in the first half of the year, with sales of €8,322 million. However, the growth rate slowed 

down compared with earlier in the year due to signs of weakness in the mainstream beauty market in the United States.

The Dermatology business unit maintained strong momentum, growing much faster than the medical dermo-cosmetics 

market, which remained resilient despite the slowdown in the US economy. The Dermatology Division achieved a 16.4% 

year-on-year growth in the first half of the year, with sales of €3,793 million, a performance that once again 

demonstrated its successful growth strategy, thanks to its leading position in the medical field and its unrivalled 

R&D foundation.

As the Dermatology Division continued to advance its global expansion, double-digit growth was achieved in developed 

and emerging markets as well as in North Asia. In Mainland China, the division continued to make significant progress 

driven by SkinCeuticals and CeraVe.

La Roche-Posay achieved strong double-digit growth in all regions and continued to be the largest contributor to the 

division’s growth. This was driven by the success of the breakthrough innovation MelaB3, which addresses topical 

pigmentation issues based on the multi-patented Melasyl™ molecule. CeraVe continued to grow strongly, outperforming 

the global market. Vichy maintained its double-digit growth rate, thanks to the success of its Dercos hair care franchise. 

Skinbetter Science maintained its strong momentum in the United States and also made a good start in Canada.

The weakness in the Chinese market put pressure on the Prestige Division, but the division still achieved year-on-year 

growth of 2.8% in the second quarter, accelerating from the first quarter, driven by double-digit growth in North America 

and emerging markets. L'Oréal Group's Prestige Division sales in the first half of the year were 7.579 billion euros.

In mainland China, the division continued to gain market share despite a weak market performance. Perfume was once 

again the most dynamic category, with L'Oréal Prestige Division outperforming other categories in all regions, thanks to 

haute couture brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Maison Margiela and Prada, as well as lifestyle brands such 

as Azzaro. The cosmetics market continued to rebound, thanks to strong innovation from Yves Saint Laurent, Armani 

and Urban Decay.

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