L’Oréal Chief Talks Business Evolution

PARIS — It was a noteworthy first half of 2018 for L’Oréal. Group sales in the Asia-Pacific region and in North America were on a par for the first time, and overall, skin-care revenues accelerated while makeup’s decelerated. Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and chief executive officer of the world’s largest beauty company, addressed such phenomena during a wide-ranging call with financial analysts on Friday morning. It took place less than one day after the maker of Lancôme, Kiehl’s and L’Oréal Paris products reported strong results. On an organic basis, second-quarter sales grew 6.3 percent and first-half sales gained 6.6 percent, powered by the company’s Luxe and Active Cosmetics divisions, plus its e-commerce and travel-retail activities. Agon said the beauty market keeps growing at a healthy clip, at an estimated 5 percent year-to-date, which slightly outpaces the rate in 2017. “The beauty market is also very contrasted between channels, regions, categories — and at the same time clearly premiumizing,” he continued. In the first half of 2018, on an organic basis, L’Oréal’s sales grew 22 percent in the Asia-Pacific region to 3.55 billion euros, whereas revenues in North America increased 3 percent to 3.56 billion euros — putting the two zones on equal footing for the

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