L'Oreal sees China improving after weak quarter hits shares

FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!

E-mail Address

StreetInsider.com Top Tickers, 8/21/2026

1. WMT
2. ROST
3. AAP
4. SPY
5. NVDA
6. AVGO
7. BJ
8. OSIS
9. HD
10. SFNC

February 13, 2026 3:00 AM EST

People walk past the logo of French cosmetics group L'Oreal in the north-western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, January 13, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

By Dominique Patton

PARIS, Feb ‌13 (Reuters) - L'Oreal's sales ​in ​China are growing and travel retail there should improve, its CEO said on Friday, after the beauty group's shares ‌fell when it missed quarterly sales forecasts and reported weaker-than-expected ⁠Asian trading.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 6%, below market expectations of about 7%. The Paris-based owner ‌of Maybelline posted revenue of ‌11.3 billion euros ($13.4 billion), but growth in North Asia slowed as travel-retail sales came in softer than hoped.

The shares were down about 3.5% ​in mid-morning trade, after dropping as much as 7% earlier.

China is in "positive territory, back to positive luxury consumption," CEO Nicolas Hieronimus ⁠told analysts.

"On (Chinese) travel retail, it's true it was not like we expected," Hieronimus said, blaming this ​partly on problems with a duty-free retail shopping app. He said inventories had not built up and that airport ​traffic was improving, adding the company expected ‌that market to be "flattish" this year.

L'Oreal had highlighted improving demand for its luxury brands in China - the world's ⁠second-biggest beauty market - in the third quarter.

Hieronimus said skincare would be another priority in 2026, after the company failed to outpace the market in 2025, breaking ⁠an eight-year run. He partly blamed increased competition from independent brands, some of which ​he said made "fantasy claims" about what their products could deliver.

JP Morgan analysts said in a note to clients that while Europe and emerging markets supported performance, they ‌remained cautious on European demand in 2026. "The fourth-quarter setup makes it difficult to envision top-line acceleration in full year ‌of 2026," they said.

Deutsche Bank Research also said earnings growth was likely ⁠to slow in the near ‌term.

($1 = 0.8435 euros)

(Reporting by ​Dominique Patton and Mateusz Rabiega. Additional reporting by Piotr Lipinski. Writing by Ingrid Melander. Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and ‌Mark Potter)


Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

You May Also Be Interested In





Related Categories

Reuters

Related Entities

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Earnings