L'Oréal Profit Sinks On Write-Downs, Currency Headwinds

By Alexa Liautaud and Sam Schechner 

PARIS -- L'Oréal SA's second-quarter net profit sank after write-downs and currency headwinds swamped strong revenue growth in North America.

The French cosmetics company, which houses brands including Yves Saint Laurent and Garnier, said that net profit fell to EUR1.48 billion, or EUR2.62 per share, down from EUR1.88 billion, or EUR3.34 per share, largely because of EUR442 million in impairment charges.

Leaving out nonrecurring items, such as the write-downs on L'Oreal's Clarisonic brand in the U.S. and its Magic brand in China, the company said that profit rose 3.5% to EUR1.96 billion.

Operating profit rose 1.7% to EUR2.36 billion in the first six months of the year.

Revenue for the six months ended June 30 totaled EUR12.89 billion, up 0.6% from the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, which strips out the effects of currency and structural changes, first-half sales grew 4.2%, the company said.

Write to Sam Schechner at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2016 13:20 ET (17:20 GMT)

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