L'Oreal 2019 Net Profit Fell, Confident for 2020 Despite Coronavirus

   By Cristina Roca 
 

L'Oreal SA (OR.FR) said Thursday that its net profit fell in 2019 even as sales rose strongly, and that it is confident it can continue to grow its top line and earnings in 2020 despite the headwinds posed by the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Net profit for 2019 was 3.75 billion euros ($4.13 billion), down from EUR3.9 billion the year before, the French cosmetics and consumer-products company said.

L'Oreal posted fourth-quarter sales of EUR7.88 billion, up 11% from the same period the year previous and rising 9.6% on a like-for-like basis.

Sales for the year were EUR29.87 billion, up 11% from 2018 and slightly higher than analysts' expectations of EUR29.75 billion according to a consensus estimate provided by FactSet.

The company declared a dividend of EUR4.25 per share, compared with EUR3.85 per share the previous year.

Commenting on the coronavirus outbreak, the company said that it expects the situation to temporarily affect the beauty market in the region.

L'Oreal said this should hit its China and Travel Retail Asia business, although it is too early to assess the extent of the impact.

The company said that, at this stage, it remains confident that it can outperform the beauty market and grow its sales and profits for 2020.

Write to Cristina Roca at [e-mail]; @_cristinaroca

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2020 12:46 ET (17:46 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.