L’Oréal maintains its strong growth in 2022

Sales for the first quarter of 2022 are off to a very positive start for L'Oréal at 9.06 billion euros, an increase of 19% compared to the same period in 2021, which had already been defined as "historic" by financial analysts. The L'Oréal Luxe division (Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani...), which in 2021 became the most important of the group in terms of results, grew by 25.1%, for a total of 3.46 billion euros in sales.

The world's leading cosmetics company saw its organic growth increase remarkably in the first quarter of 2022, thanks to several determining factors: the gradual lifting of health restrictions in Europe and continued strong demand in China.

Despite a difficult geopolitical context and inflation hanging over the markets like a sword of Damocles, L'Oréal remains the strongest global group in the beauty world. The performance of the first quarter even exceeded the forecasts made by the Bloomberg and Factset agencies, which were expecting 8.77 billion and 8.82 billion euros of global sales respectively.

All sectors and geographical areas benefited from this increase: in Europe, sales rose by 16.4% on a like-for-like basis, as the weakening of the pandemic allowed for easier movement of travellers, tourists and renewed customer interest in beauty care. In North America, sales jumped by 12.6%. In North Asia, the increase was more muted, with growth of 9.4%, attributed to a new outbreak of the pandemic, and the subsequent lockdown in major cities in mainland China.

L'Oréal focused on premiumisation and innovation strategies, increasing sales volumes and value. On a reported basis, the Luxury Division was the fastest growing division, with sales of almost €3.5 billion. Recently launched ultra-premium products in skin care, anti-ageing, lifting and plumping were the drivers of this success.