L'Oreal's 1st Half Like-for-Like Growth Surged on Asia-Pacific Demand -- Update

   By Anthony Shevlin 
 

--L'Oreal's first-half net profit was EUR2.33 billion, slightly missing analyst expectations.

--Like-for-like sales rose 7.3% to EUR14.81 billion, the company's strongest like-for-like growth in more than a decade.

--The company expects to outperform the market in 2019.

L'Oreal SA (OR.FR) on Tuesday posted its strongest first-half like-for-like growth in more than a decade, but its first-half net profit came in slightly below analyst expectations.

The French cosmetics and consumer-products said like-for-like growth for the six months ending June 30 was 7.3%, boosted by a dynamic performance in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sales for the period were EUR14.81 billion ($16.49 billion), up from EUR13.39 billion the year previous--and in line with a forecast provided by FactSet.

First-half sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose over 24% on a like-for-like basis but sales in North America were flat.

L'Oreal's net profit rose 2.3% to EUR2.33 billion, but it missed a FactSet forecast of EUR2.46 billion.

The company's operating profit increased over 12% to EUR2.89 billion, the company said.

Sales in L'Oreal's luxe division rose over 13% to EUR5.15 billion and active cosmetics recorded an increase of nearly 14% to EUR1.42 billion.

Commenting on the results, L'Oreal's Chief Executive Jean-Paul Agon said: "China is maintaining its pace of growth. North America is still being held back by the slowdown in makeup."

Mr. Agon said western Europe remains a difficult market but that sales are increasing there.

L'Oreal backed its target to outperform the market in 2019 and expects another year of profit and sales growth.

Write to Anthony Shevlin at [e-mail]; @anthony_shevlin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2019 13:02 ET (17:02 GMT)

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