L'Oreal's Weak Mass Brands Overshadow High-End Growth in China
- Lower-end brands such as Maybelline fall short of estimates
- Weaker euro gives boost to cosmetics company’s bottom line
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L’Oreal SA posted disappointing sales of mass-market cosmetics, triggering a slide in the share price even as buoyant Chinese demand lifted revenue from high-end products.
The French beauty conglomerate’s sales of consumer brands such as Maybelline rose at a less-than-stellar pace of 2.3 percent in the second quarter, the company said. While L’Oreal turned in a much stronger performance from luxury brands like Lancome and Giorgio Armani, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon said the mass-market unit was unsatisfactory.