L’Oreal third quarter sales miss expectations as China buys less

PARIS (Reuters) -French cosmetics giant L’Oreal reported a rise in third quarter sales on Tuesday that missed expectations after low consumer confidence in China sapped demand for beauty products.

The company, which owns the Maybelline and Lancome brands, said sales for the three months to the end of September were 10.28 billion euros ($11.11 billion), a 3.4% rise on a like-for-like basis at constant exchange rates.

It was below a Visible Alpha consensus of 6% cited by Jefferies.

Shares in Paris-based L’Oreal have lost 20% since June, wiping about 50 billion euros off its valuation, on investor concerns about consumption in China.

The North Asia region, dominated by China, accounts for a quarter of group sales, but persistently weak demand in the world’s No. 2 economy has curbed consumer spending.

Sales in North Asia declined 6.5% in the third quarter, said the company, worsening from a decline of 2.4% in the prior three months.

“In mainland China, the beauty market – already negative in the second quarter – continued to deteriorate, impacted by low consumer confidence,” the company said in a statement.

China grew at the slowest pace since early 2023 in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, with luxury bellwether LVMH saying last week that consumer confidence in the country was at an all-time low.

LVMH, Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, and Salvatore Ferragamo all blamed China weakness for missed third quarter sales estimates last week.

Sales growth in Europe, L’Oreal’s biggest region at a third of group sales, also slowed in the third quarter to 5.6% from 9.7% in the prior quarter.

($1 = 0.9255 euros)