Earnings call transcript: L’Oréal’s Q3 2025 results show robust growth

L’Oréal reported a strong third quarter for 2025, with like-for-like growth of 4.9%, driven by dynamic performance in e-commerce and strategic expansions. The company highlighted its continued market share gains and innovation focus, setting a positive tone for future growth. With a market capitalization of $6.37 billion and impressive revenue growth of 13.87% over the last twelve months, L’Oréal’s strategic initiatives and market positioning suggest a robust outlook. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company maintains an exceptional gross profit margin of 96.29%, though current valuations suggest the stock may be trading above its Fair Value.

Key Takeaways

• L’Oréal achieved 4.9% like-for-like growth in Q3 2025.
• E-commerce sales surged by 12%.
• Strategic acquisition of Kering Beauty, including the Creed fragrance brand.
• Strong performance in luxury and professional products divisions.
• Continued focus on innovation and digital transformation.

Company Performance

L’Oréal’s performance in Q3 2025 underscores its resilience and adaptability in a competitive beauty market. The company reported a 4.9% increase in like-for-like growth, surpassing the nine-month market growth rate of slightly above 3%. This performance was buoyed by strong sales in its Professional Products and Luxury divisions, as well as a noteworthy rebound in Consumer Products, particularly in makeup.

Financial Highlights

• Like-for-like growth: 4.9% in Q3 2025
• E-commerce growth: 12% in Q3 2025
• Nine-month market growth: Slightly above 3%
• Estimated full-year market growth: Close to 4%

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, L’Oréal remains cautiously optimistic about 2026, with a strategic focus on innovation and expanding its e-commerce presence. The company anticipates continued growth in emerging markets and plans to leverage its recent acquisition of Kering Beauty to strengthen its market position further. InvestingPro data shows an overall Financial Health Score of 3.18 (rated as "GREAT"), with analysts forecasting FY2025 EPS of $0.82. The company’s next earnings report is scheduled for November 5, 2025, where investors will be watching closely to see if L’Oréal can maintain its momentum. For deeper insights into L’Oréal’s valuation and growth prospects, subscribers can access the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available exclusively on InvestingPro.

Executive Commentary

CEO Nicolas Hieronimus emphasized L’Oréal’s commitment to innovation and digital transformation, stating, "We grow our e-commerce growth at plus 12% right now." He also highlighted the company’s role in enhancing consumer experiences: "Beauty has to play its role of bringing a smile on people’s face."

Risks and Challenges

• Inventory challenges in Dermatological Beauty could impact short-term performance.
• Macroeconomic pressures in key markets like China and the U.S. may affect growth.
• Competition in the beauty industry remains intense, necessitating continuous innovation.
• Supply chain disruptions could pose operational challenges.
• Currency fluctuations might impact financial results, given L’Oréal’s global operations.

L’Oréal’s Q3 2025 performance reflects its strategic agility and market strength, setting a positive trajectory for future growth. Trading at a P/E ratio of 81.62, with analyst targets ranging from $32.35 to $41.98, the company’s focus on innovation and digital expansion positions it well to navigate industry challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities. InvestingPro subscribers can access additional ProTips and detailed financial metrics to better understand L’Oréal’s market position and growth potential among its peers in the beauty industry.

Full transcript - L’Oreal SA (OR) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator: Welcome to the conference call regarding L’Oréal’s sales at 30th September 2025. The conference is about to begin, and I hand over to Eva Quiroga. Ms. Quiroga, please go ahead.

Eva Quiroga, Investor Relations, L’Oréal: Yes, thank you very much. Good evening, and thank you for joining us for L’Oréal’s nine-month 2025 sales call. With me are, as always, Nicolas Hieronimus.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Hello.

Eva Quiroga, Investor Relations, L’Oréal: Christophe Babule.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Hello, good evening.

Eva Quiroga, Investor Relations, L’Oréal: Laurent Schmitt.

Laurent Schmitt, Executive, L’Oréal: Hello, good evening.

Eva Quiroga, Investor Relations, L’Oréal: Nicolas will briefly comment on the numbers and the acquisition of Kering Beauty, we announced yesterday. We will then open up for Q&A and aim to finish at 7:30. Over to you, Nicolas.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to tell you about these nine months. First of all, about the market. At slightly over +3% in the first nine months, the global market remains dynamic. In that context, our like-for-like growth sequentially accelerated, reaching +4.9% in the third quarter. That is, of course, adjusted for our IT transformation in the U.S. last year. As promised, the contribution from our Beauty Stimulus Plan accelerated. We rolled out our first half innovations and launched new products, including our two latest fragrances, Prada Paradoxe and Miu Miu Mutiny. Both are off to a good start. If I had to name some of my key highlights for the first nine months, I would say the following.

First, the gradual recovery in our two largest markets, Mainland China, where we clearly outpaced the market, and the U.S., where CPD gained market share in each of its categories for the first time since 2021, proof that innovation really is a game changer in beauty. Second, the ongoing strength in hair care and fragrances, now 30% of our sales, but also the bounce back in makeup, where we grew almost three times above the market. Third, the continued dynamism in e-commerce that plays to our strength, enabling us to outperform in the fastest growing channel. On Saturday night, we announced the acquisition of Kering Beauty, including the Creed niche fragrance brand, as well as the beauty and fragrances licenses of Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and, when available, Gucci. I’m extremely excited about this transaction.

Not only does it cement our existing leadership in luxury beauty, I also see enormous potential for each one of these four brands. We have proved our ability to turn licenses into billionaires. Today, YSL is as big in beauty as it is in fashion. Prada crossed the €500 million mark just four years after joining the L’Oréal Luxe family. The future to Ruth smells good, and I look forward to writing this new chapter. I’m truly delighted to do it with Kering, a trusted partner for more than a decade and a half. With that, we are all ready to take your questions.

Conference Moderator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Please use your handset before asking your question and set your microphone on mute when you ask your questions. The first question is from Guillaume Gerard Vincent Delmas of UBS. Please go ahead.

Guillaume Gerard Vincent Delmas, Analyst, UBS: Good evening, Nicolas, Christophe, Laurent, Eva. Good evening. Two questions for me. The first one on North America, because you had a slow start to the year. If I remember well, market growth accelerated from the middle of Q2. I think since then, we’ve seen some pretty impressive scanner data for L’Oréal, particularly during the months of summer. A bit surprised that your adjusted like-for-like in North America was 3% in Q3. That seems to be a little bit of a deceleration compared to your adjusted like-for-like of, I think, around 5% in Q2. Could you maybe help us unpack what looks like an apparent slowdown? Is it maybe because of a material discrepancy between sell-out, selling in the region? Any color on this performance would be helpful. My second question on North Asia.

It’s always a bit of a mixed bag with contrast developments between travel retail, Mainland China, and Japan. Wondering if you could touch a little bit on all the different moving parts for Q3 and what did drive this material step up in like-for-like. Maybe more of a crystal ball exercise at this stage, but any indications on the upcoming 11/11 and whether the nice developments seen in Mainland China in Q3 could be maintained or even accelerated in the first quarter. Thank you very much.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay, so we’ll share the first question with Christophe, and I’ll tell you about the news from the market itself and our performance. Then we’ll try to explain the differences between selling and sell-out. I think the first and most important thing to say is that we’ve indeed seen a real acceleration of the North American, particularly the U.S. market over the year. As you said, over the summer, our outperformance has increased, particularly in CPD, where we were below market for the beginning of the year, and we have accelerated. If I look at the total beauty market, excluding hygiene, where we don’t compete in the U.S., Q1 was flat, Q2 was at +2%, and Q3, which was around 3.9% or close to 4%.

It’s a real acceleration of the market, and we’ve been indeed outperforming the market in North America thanks to an acceleration in mass, a continuous stellar performance in PPD in the Professional Division, which is even before the addition of Color Wow, which joined us in September, was really great. LOF has been pretty consistent, overall, overperforming the market. LDB is recovering. Fantastic performance of SkinCeuticals, good performance of La Roche-Posay, and CeraVe has finally gone back into a slightly positive territory, not just because of hair care, which is doing good, but also because thanks to moisturizers. Christophe, on the discrepancies between selling and sell-out, and that overall, as you can hear, I’m pretty bullish for the U.S., and I’m very happy of the performance of our CPD teams, which is, of course, helped by a fantastic comeback of L’Oréal in makeup, continuous performance in hair care.

We see, we hope that the market will remain as dynamic in the later part of the year as it was in Q3. Christophe, maybe on selling?

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Yes, of course. I want to reinforce the message that the fact the market has been accelerating in Q3, that’s a very positive figure, and it is reflected also in our selling. Adjusted off the IT transformation impact, North America has been growing at an adjusted rate of 3.8% and lifting, therefore, the total growth at the end of September at 3.1%. I think when we look at the sell-out, L’Oréal is overperforming the market. The only discrepancy is on LDB, where we still have the problem of inventories compared to last year, but besides, on all other divisions, we see the sales improving.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Now, if we go to North Asia, you’re right to say that it’s a mix of different situations. Let’s start with what’s, I would say, going in the right direction, which is mainland China. The market is now, year to date, at plus 1%, so it has continued to slightly improve. It was flattish in the first half. Our estimation of the Q3 was around plus 3%. I’m always very careful about China because one quarter doesn’t make a trend, but overall, the market has gone into positive territory. It’s been boosted by, of all our channels, the one that has improved the most in Q3 is luxury, which has allowed us, and which we have outperformed, which has allowed us to improve our performance versus the market, the Chinese, the mainland China market. Overall, China has stabilized. We see a slight uptick in consumer confidence.

We see a stock market that has gone back to the 2019 level, which is good for luxury consumers’ morale. I wouldn’t get overexcited because there are other macro employment statistics that are not as positive. Let’s say it’s in positive territory. That’s true also for other markets, such as Japan, which is benefiting from Chinese stories, from Korea. Overall, that’s going in the right direction. What’s still not improving is travel retail. It’s improving a bit, but it remains in negative territories. Travel retail Asia is negative in single digits, but with, as we commented in our last call, a significant difference between the downtown stores, which are double-digit negative, and the airports, which are doing better. Travel retail is not positive. Hong Kong is in the same bag, but overall, all in all, you saw the results.

As we’re entering the end of the year, of course, the big question will be, because you were talking about, should we see a repetition of this improvement on Q4? As you know, this is the big moment for Double Eleven, which is the big promotional event in China. It’s too soon to say anything, so it will, of course, the performance of Q4 in China will be, of course, very much dependent upon the dynamism of Double Eleven. Too soon to tell. We’ll tell you as much as soon as we know. Overall, we are gaining share in China on three divisions out of four, big time in professional dermatology, and we continue to gain despite our high share in luxury. We are below market on CPD, where the competition is fierce. The good news is that the proportion of luxury is increasing, so that’s good for us.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: Next question is from Charles Scotti of Kepler Chevreux. Please go ahead.

Charles Scotti, Analyst, Kepler Chevreux: Yes. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three. The first one, I don’t really expect you to answer this question, but I will ask anyway. Could you give us an idea of how the $4 billion tag is split between the acquisition of Creed and the beauty licenses? My second question, still about the strategic deal with Kering, you mentioned that you are creating a 50/50 joint venture. Could you give us more details about the services and products that might result from this? Could you also tell us what know-how and expertise Kering will bring that you do not already have internally? My last question is about the Armani succession. You mentioned being interested only in the beauty business.

Could you eventually consider an operation similar to the deal of Estée Lauder with Tom Ford, i.e., acquiring the brand and then granting a long-term license for the management of the fashion business? Thank you very much.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Maybe I can take the first one.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay, if you want. Just want to remind one point, which is very important, is that the price of the deal encompasses the totality of the scope and includes 100% of the acquisition of the house of Creed, together with the long-term license or the rights for three emblematic houses. The price, of course, is for the total deal. For the time being, there is no way to disclose what is our own valuation on those different assets. On the joint venture, on well-being, longevity, it’s very early days to give you details. It will take the form of a joint venture between Kering and L’Oréal with a clear goal, which is responding to the strong demand for services and experiences linked to well-being, health, and longevity. It’s an ambitious project. We’ll put joint resources in it.

We will bring our expertise of skincare, of longevity, the longevity research that we have. We will also bring what we’ve learned from our services we offer in the Carita store that we have in Paris. Kering will bring their expertise in experience luxury, their clienteling. They are used to focus on high-net-worth individuals, which are the primary targets of this type of business. I think it will be a great collaboration. It’s a bit too soon to tell, to be honest, but we are both very excited about it because it’s one of the megatrends of the moment. I think you will not have missed it. More in the weeks and months to come, but that’s how we see it. We’re really excited about it.

As far as the Armani brand or company, Armani Spice, concerned, I will repeat what we have said, is that, first of all, and I never want to miss saying it, is that we are all very sad of the passing of Mr. Armani, with whom we’ve collaborated for 40 years. We are very honored that in his succession and in the instruction that he left with his heir, L’Oréal is considered as a potential acquirer, at least of the first part of the first 15%. We said we would consider all the options. It’s a bit too soon. The family is mourning and focusing also on driving this business. The only important thing I can confirm today is that the deal we just did with Kering does not prevent us from considering any of the options that are on the table with Armani. We’ll rediscuss it in the future.

Charles Scotti, Analyst, Kepler Chevreux: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Jean-Olivier Nicolai of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Guillaume Gerard Vincent Delmas, Analyst, UBS: Hi, good afternoon, Nicolas, Christophe, Laurent, Eva. I’ve got two questions, please. Going back to the deal with Kering, I think you mentioned in the press that you were expecting Creed’s sales to potentially triple over time. Could you give us perhaps your initial impression on the brand and where do you see the main source of upside? Just regarding Gucci, I think you mentioned that, I mean, essentially, you said that it’s by 2028, I believe. Could you see a scenario where you could get a license before that date? In the meantime, if you can’t, what is the risk that the Gucci license, to some extent, could deteriorate between now and 2028?

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay. As far as Creed is concerned, the house of Creed, it’s a beautiful brand. It’s the number three brand in the top three of the niche fragrances markets, which happens to be the fastest growing part of the fragrance market itself. The niche, which are products that are more valorized, around €200 and more, has been outpacing the overall fragrance market. It happens to be a segment where we are just represented by the collection inside our couture brand. We are underrepresented and undershared. For us, it’s already a strong step in this market. We think we plan to accelerate both because we think this part of the market is going to continue to grow fast. I just come back.

For the last couple of weeks, I was on a trip in Saudi, which is a fast-rising market, which, like the rest of the Gulf, has an absolute love for fragrances, and not just for blockbusters, but really for expensive niche fragrances that they layer. We see the same in other emerging markets. Of course, we see this in the rest of the Western world. We think that there is going to be organic growth from the segment, but also that we will bring our expertise. We have, I think, proven that we had the capacity with our olfactive department to create one after the other great juices, great fragrances.

By the way, even though it’s not the question you asked me, I’m happy to report that both Prada Paradoxe and Miu Miu Mutiny are off to a very good start, both entering the top 10 in the market where they have been launched. We think we can bring our knowledge in fragrances and also our clout because with the number of brands that we have in beauty and in luxury beauty in particular, when we are negotiating with retailers, with space, etc., we can probably have some leverage as it relates to Creed. Very, very excited about it and looking forward to working with the teams that have already built such a great success story. As far as the Gucci license, it belongs to Kering to comment on that. I never mentioned the timeline, but it seems that the market had a pretty clear view on it.

We are not privy of their discussions, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to discuss neither with Scotty nor about the details of this part. We’ll see. For us, we are patient and we wait. As far as your question on deterioration, we’ve had experiences in the past of taking over licenses from other big groups. In the end, it has always gone well. These brands are brands that have passed the test of time. I don’t think a couple of years can make a huge difference.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Ashley Wallace of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.

Hello, good evening, and thank you for taking my question. I have three, please. The first one is on 2026.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: I’m sorry, we can’t hear you very well. I don’t know if you can.

Is it better now?

Yes, a bit better, yeah.

Okay. My first question is on 2026. Last year, at the Q3 results, you very helpfully gave us some market growth expectations for 2025. I was wondering if you’d be willing to share your market view on 2026 already, and do you think next year, L’Oréal can see stronger organic revenue growth than in 2025? If so, what are the drivers of that acceleration, maybe from a regional perspective? Then my second question was a follow-up, actually, on the U.S. I think Christophe mentioned that excluding IT phasing, your sell-in was up 3.8%. If I’m not mistaken, you said you estimated the U.S. market growth was at 3.9% for the quarter. Maybe you can help give us a sense of your sell-out trends in Q3, because it sounds like sell-in was below sell-out. Therefore, maybe we can also expect some type of restocking in Q4.

What do you think about this? My last question is on fragrances. I think there’s some debate now in the market that the fragrance cycle is slowing. Do you see any signs of this? It sounds like it’s not impacted the launches for Prada or Miu Miu Mutiny, but what about the other parts of your fragrance business? Can you just remind us if the sell-in for Prada Paradoxe and Miu Miu Mutiny was in Q2 or Q3, or maybe across both quarters?

It was in Q3.

Thank you.

The selling for Prada and Miu Miu Mutiny was in Q3. By the way, our growth on fragrances year-to-date is just shy of +10%, and we are gaining share. Overall, our fragrances, you know, there are always some brands that, depending on their comparatives, have highs and lows, but our fragrances are doing great. We have multiple brands in the top 10 in both male and female. Libre is number two female fragrance in the world. We’ve launched, as you said, Prada Paradoxe. We’ve just launched also a new Ralph Lauren fragrance, Ralph, with Usher as a spokesperson. Overall, our fragrance business is doing good, and the niche fragrance business is also continuing on the market to grow. Yes, the market has slowed a bit, but the fragrance market remains the fastest growing category of beauty.

I think today we are probably slightly above mid-single digit for the market, which is twice the speed of the beauty market overall. We remain very confident in fragrance, and we see it continuing to grow with several factors, as we commented. Of course, you know the growth rate is slowing down a bit, but there are still more people using fragrances, more young people having this, what I would call the wardrobe strategy in fragrances, i.e., having several fragrances depending on occasions. By the way, what’s interesting is that men in fragrances are right now going faster than female, which reflects the entry in the market of multiple young men and boys that are very excited about, you know, including Paradoxe from Prada. Overall, you know, I remain confident in fragrance. I would say something on that.

One of the consumer trends that we see everywhere next to the medical safety trend is this indulgence, feel-good. I mean, we all see the world we live in, and people want things that make them want the bliss of something that smells good. Overall, I remain confident on fragrances. I think your first question was on the U.S. Our sell-out in Q3 was shy of +6%, so above the market. We have, of course, you heard the comparison of the IT system last year. Most of our divisions are in terms of inventory, with absolutely zero issue. We have, as always, a little bit of pipe of the holiday sets from L’Oréal Lux, but like last year. Everything would depend on the success of the holiday season. As fragrances are overrepresented in this holiday season, I think we are confident for the rest of the year.

I missed one question.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Yes, there was a question.

Conference Moderator: I’d have said.

Yeah, I’d have said.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: 2026. I don’t know. I don’t know yet. I’m surprised that actually you said I gave a number in Q3, 2025, for 2024 for 25 because it seems surprising to me.

I think you said that it would be that 2025 would be a year where you would have normal growth in line with pre-COVID level of growth. I thought we need to kind of talk about conceptually.

No, frankly, I don’t know. What I know, when I compare to other industries, I’ve looked at the list of consumer goods and other industries, and I don’t see many industries that grow above +3%, which tends to confirm that the beauty exception continues, whether I don’t know if we should call it the lipstick effect or the smell good fragrance effect. I think that the market has accelerated slightly in Q3, and hopefully, it will continue to go in the same direction for next year. Frankly, with the world we’re in right now, I’ll refrain from prognostics, if you allow me.

Conference Moderator: Okay, thank you. The next question is from Celine A.H. Pannuti of JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Sorry, I was late joining. Just following back on the discussion just now about market growth, did you mention what market growth was in Q3, and are you still expecting? I think you were expecting about mid-single digit in the second half. Do you think that’s happening? Can you talk about, it seems that China is slightly improving, but can you talk about what’s going on in Latin America, Europe, from a market standpoint, and whether you think that mid-single digit is where the market can be at some point? The second question is on Europe. We have seen an acceleration. We are hearing nonetheless that the consumers are a bit more under pressure in that region. Can you talk about what drove that performance and what to expect from this market going forward?

Maybe one last question on quite a big change in your Executive Board was announced a few weeks ago. If you can give us a bit of the rationale behind those changes. Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay. I’ll start with market growth. We consider that because every time we talk about the market, we don’t have the full data. We’ll go back to the first part of the year, tell you what’s our assessment of Q3 and how we see the year. Overall, we see that in Q1, the market was slightly above +2%. It was just slightly below +3% in the first half, which meant Q2 around 3% and 4%, somewhere like this. Our best estimate at this stage for Q3 is that the market growth was pretty similar to that of Q2, maybe a touch better than Q2 because, as you said, the Chinese market was a bit better. The U.S. was a bit better. Latin America was a bit softer, but still in the +8%. It’s a good market growth, but it was softer than the first part of the year.

Europe was pretty stable with a robust around +4%. It means that our assessment is that the market at the end of nine months is slightly above +3%. For the full year, 2025, our estimation is that it will be close enough to the +4% I was mentioning. Of course, you know it’s, as I say, it’s money time at the end of the year between Chinese Double Eleven and holiday season in America and Europe. Fingers crossed, and we have lots of ammunitions to drive that market because it’s an offer market. That’s my first take on the market. Yeah?

Can I just get in there? Did you say that time was plus eight, and then can you just explain why you had a much weaker performance in the quarter then?

I just swiped the plus 8 on Latin America. The market was around plus 8. We’ve had a pretty good performance overall in Latin America. The market was at plus 9 in the first half, plus 8 in the second. In sell-outs, year-to-date, we are above the market, plus 10 on the market at plus 8. We are not underperforming. We never look at the quarter over a quarter because there are some fluctuations of invoicing. Three divisions are outperforming: PPD, Lux, and CPD, big time with hair care. We were slightly below on LDB. Selling should be viewed on a nine-month rather than quarterly basis because there, again, are several IT-related factors that are distorting the quarterly rate. We are very happy with overall our Latin American situation. The market is a tiny bit slower, but as I said, plus 8 is a pretty, pretty decent growth number.

Lots of positive things overall in Latin America. Now on Europe, I think the good performance came from market share gains. We’ve been gaining market share in, if I look at nine months, we are gaining share in three divisions out of four, as in the total group. The gaining is strongly on PPD, on luxury, and at market level on dermatology, and slightly below on mass. Again, increasing and improving, as we do in America, with a strong comeback in makeup, with many initiatives doing a bit better. That’s the situation in Europe. I think overall what you have to understand, because it’s a bit the same situation in most regions, we really see the acceleration of our new product. We talked about the Beauty Stimulus Plan. It gave us an extra 150 basis points of growth, approximately. We have most initiatives are doing great.

It’s very, very true in makeup on all divisions. It’s very true in hair care. We have many initiatives coming in skincare, and that’s going to be helping in China with Helena Rubinstein and Lancome. As I said, fragrances are doing good. The launches are working. As it’s an offer market, that’s what makes us confident. Your third question, Celine, was?

Your executive board.

The changes in the Executive Committee. You know, as always, we at L’Oréal try to give our talents and our leaders opportunities to continue to prove themselves and to bring a fresh view on the different regions. We also had the desire, considering the importance of the North American market and the need to have a very strong relationship with the authorities, with the regulators that are current, the CEO, the great David Greenberg, who’s one of our strong American talents, to become Chairman because I want him, and I’m going to be, by the way, with him in Washington to have him focus and dedicate his time to this part of both L’Oréal reputation, but also all the work we do on regulation.

That has given me the opportunity to appoint Alexis Perakis-Valat, who’s done a phenomenal job on CPD, and with a strong comeback, particularly in the North American business in the third quarter, to take America. Then, a chain reaction, Fabrice Megarban, who was in charge of both transformation and our Chief Growth Office, is going to take the Mass Division. He is going to be replaced by Vianney Derville, who’s in charge in Europe. Again, a fantastic track record, great contributor of the last couple of years, and pointing to replace Fabrice, to replace, sorry, Vianney in Europe, Emmanuel Goula, who was in charge of travel retail in Praia Suda. He was CEO of L’Oréal Italy.

That gave me the opportunity to bring in the COMEX, our first Chinese woman, Eva Yu, who is going to be taking over travel retail, where she had been for a while, the head of travel retail Asia. It’s the typical L’Oréal talent development, bringing fresh blood, fresh idea, and fresh vision on every part of the business and continuing to grow people. This is all going to be implemented on 1st of January. They’re all in handover right now. I’m pretty sure this is going to be another source of acceleration in the months and years to come.

Thank you so much, and congrats for the deal yesterday.

Thank you so much.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Wassachon Fon Udomsilpa of RBC. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thank you for taking my question. Two for me, please. The first one, could you talk about the level of impact of the Beauty Stimulus Plan in Q3 compared to your previous guidance that the impact will be about 300 basis points versus last year in the second half? Is it there yet? To follow up on that, I appreciate it’s too early to talk about market growth next year, but I’ll try another way. Any color you can give us on the intensity of launch or Beauty Stimulus Plan heading into next year and any category that you will be focusing? Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: As I said, on next year, I’m not going to give you guidance. We’ve seen a progressive acceleration of the market between the first and second half. We’ll see how things evolve next year. What I can see, let’s go back to the facts because the facts are the following. U.S. market is getting better. Sapmina, emerging in general, remains dynamic with a slight slowdown, but to a good level of Latin America, consistent growth in double digits of Sapmina. Europe is quite stable. We see China has improved a bit in Q3, as I said. I’m cautious about China because it’s hard to know what the next event will truly represent. Overall, you have better America, at least at the same level, if not a better China, stable Europe, and somehow a little bit of reduction of Latin America.

It means that the market next year should be a bit better than this year. I’m being very cautious. As far as the Beauty Stimulus Plan, it added 170 basis points in Q3. We’ll see what happens in Q4 because this is where the weight of fragrances will increase. We have still a few ammunitions, if I may use that term, that were not launched in Q3 that were, in the end, when I look at Q3, you had the things that were launched in the first part of the year, the new fragrances. We still have a few launches in skincare in Paris, a few makeup initiatives. Hopefully, it will increase even more in Q4. It’s not an exact science, but what I know is that it’s above last year by, yeah, 170 basis points.

Very helpful. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Sarah Simon of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Sarah Simon, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Yes, hi. Just one question. Obviously, this year was all about more innovation to kind of stimulate the market. How should we think about that in the context of next year? I’m not talking about the market. I’m thinking about whether you see the potential to maintain that level of innovation next year, or can you even do better? Thanks.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: I think the answer is very clear. Yes, we want and will maintain this level of innovation. It’s clear that when the context is a bit less rosy, as is the world today, beauty has to play its role of bringing a smile on people’s face. We have to do our job in tempting consumers with exciting stuff. We hadn’t been doing it enough the prior year because probably there were tailwinds that were carrying the market. Now we have to carry the market, and we do it. We do it both through the launches that are being launched now, and that will, most of them being successful, carry over for next year. Of course, that’s what I spend my days right now in the meetings, is reviewing the plans. We have strong plans for 2026. We want to keep that pace very clearly.

There is something that we haven’t discussed so much in the questions we’ve had, and which plays also a role in our capacity to overperform the market, which is the role of digital and e-commerce. You know, when we say the market is growing a bit above plus 3%, probably the growth rate of e-commerce is more than twice that. We grow our e-commerce growth at plus 12% right now. We are really doubling down on that because it allows us to reach new consumers, whether in India and Saudi, in the U.S., or in China, where it’s the largest part of our business. E-commerce also allows us to penetrate much faster with new products or continuing to animate existing brands.

I think in the current context where in the beauty world, offline or brick and mortar is a bit more stable and where e-commerce is more booming, that helps us overperform. That’s what we intend to continue to do too.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Jeffrey Patrick Stent of BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Patrick Stent, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: Good evening, everyone, and thank you for taking my question.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Hello, Jeff.

Jeffrey Patrick Stent, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: Hey, just a point of clarification. I think you said on North America that sell-out was 6%. Adjusted sell-in was 3.8%. I think you also sort of suggested there aren’t really any inventory issues. I was just sort of trying to square that circle, if you like. If you could elaborate, that’d be brilliant. Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Frankly, I don’t have more details than that. We have maybe, Christophe, if you want to jump in.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: I just want.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Because I think we have heard the acceleration of makeup that plays a role in our own acceleration. There are category mixes that play, but maybe, Christophe, you want to.

Christophe Babule, CFO, L’Oréal: Yes, I just want, again, to restate exactly the growth. North America in Q3, adjusted, is 3.8%. Therefore, cumulated adjusted is 3.1%. We had a very strong Q3 in North America. This has to be compared, of course, with the situation of the market, reminding two key important factors. First is the fact that we have a business in North America that is heavyweighted on makeup. As you know, makeup is not the most dynamic category right now, even if it’s recovering. Also, there is a part of the market where we are not there. Here, I refer to the mass fragrances and hygiene, where it accounts for only 2% of our sales in the U.S., while the market is 14%. What is important is to see really how our divisions are competing in their own territory.

That’s an area where we are very proud because, in fact, we are still gaining market share and recovering. That’s why overall the situation of our business in the U.S. is nearly on par with the market, despite those unfavorable factors, footprints.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay, thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from David Hayes of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

David Hayes, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you. Good evening all. Just sort of three clarification questions, I guess, on my part. Just to come back to Latam, you’re talking about the sell-out at 10%, but I think Latam 4.4% organic sales growth with no adjustments involved there. Just trying to understand, is that a disconnect in terms of shipments that we might catch up in the fourth quarter? I’m just trying to understand the fourth quarter dynamics. Going back again to the U.S., sorry, just on the U.S. dynamics, you’re doing 3.8%, as you say, underlying. I think you said the market did 3.9%. Normally, you’re well ahead of the market. I guess what you just said is that you’re in line with the market despite the weightings of your business. Just again to understand, was there some deficit in terms of your shipments versus the sell-out in the U.S., or is that aligned?

The last question was, is the 1.5 percentage points you mentioned of innovation impact in the quarter, is that at the group level? Is that the right interpretation? Is that something that goes up next quarter, or is that the biggest benefit in the third quarter, or is that something that could contribute even more as you roll those new renovations into next quarter? Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: We’ll see. In theory, it should go up a bit in the next quarter. It should go up in the next quarter because you have a bigger weight of the categories that are where we have had our biggest innovation, and particularly fragrances that are where we are very strong. As far as the U.S., we were below market on CPD, which weighs a lot. We have accelerated on CPD very significantly over the summer, particularly July, August, and September, thanks to great performance, as I said, on hair care and a great comeback on makeup with both L’Oréal Paris and NYX in particular, significantly outperforming the market. I have to say that you’re trying to get the number of recalculations, which I have a hard time now following. I think the message that you have to remember is that the U.S.

market is improving, and we are improving faster than the U.S. market. That’s, I think, my best shot at your question. You want to say a word on Latin America, Christophe, or you want me to take it? On Latin America, we look at the performance on a nine-months basis, and we’re indeed roughly at plus 10% in sell-out, and the market’s at plus 8%.

David Hayes, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from David Damaya of CIC Market Solutions. Please go ahead.

Hi, good evening. Actually, my question has already been answered, but I also have some follow-up questions for Nicolas after this very interesting interview you gave with Luca De Meo in Le Figaro. The first one is on Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. Can you confirm the brand is generating today more than €2 billion in consolidated sales, not at retail value? The second one on Gucci. In the interview, you gave quite bullish comments on the long-term potential of the license. Do you think Gucci Beauty could become, in the long term, your biggest couture brand? I mean, bigger than Yves Saint Laurent Beauté?

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: First of all, I can confirm that Yves Saint Laurent is bigger in net sales than €2 billion. It’s actually not far from €3 billion. It’s one of the successes we are the most proud of. It entered the top five worldwide of luxury beauty, with great successes in fragrances, but also particularly in makeup. As far as Gucci, I don’t have the exact numbers and data of their sales, but we know it’s significantly smaller. As a fashion brand, Gucci is bigger than Yves Saint Laurent. In the long term, over the 50 years we are talking about, which is the term of the licenses that we will get when available, I think there is indeed the potential for Gucci to become, I don’t know how long it would take, but it can catch up Yves Saint Laurent, yeah.

Considering the.

Again, Gucci is probably three times the size of Yves Saint Laurent, of course, gives a potential a lot of.

Okay.

Conference Moderator: The next question is from Patrick Folan of Barclays. Please go ahead.

Patrick Folan, Analyst, Barclays: Hey, good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. Just within derma, outside of the sun care impact, what was the growth of underlying skin? It’d be helpful to maybe know how the market is performing today versus how L’Oréal is performing. If you could split that out, how CeraVe and La Roche-Posay are holding up. Secondly, just a quick one, in light of the Kering Beauty deal, does this change your thought process regarding the Galderma stake at all? Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay. On LDB, the first thing to say is that it’s the one division where there is still a significant discrepancy between our selling, our invoicing, which is a bit less than 4, and our sell-out, which is around 7. The big difference comes from Europe, where we’re still offsetting the inventory of the sun care season last year. It’s more important to look at sell-out to give you a good perspective. I’ll tell you about the brands, as you mentioned. The market in dermo has been slowing. It’s globally at +5% at the end of after nine months. It’s mostly the North American market that has slowed down with weakness in drug stores and probably a bit cautious consumption on this category of products. L’Oréal is well above that market, and we grow at 1.5 times the market, especially in North Asia.

In North America, we are growing at three times the market. We continue to be healthy in sell-out on the market that’s a bit slower. In terms of brands, the strongest momentum right now is in brands that are related to aesthetics. I’m thinking about SkinCeuticals, which has a double-digit growth. It’s true, it’s very strong in the U.S. as it is in China. Hair care is very strong also, both with Dercos and CeraVe. La Roche-Posay is the hair series. CeraVe, which has gone back into positive territory in the U.S., which was very important to me, particularly in moisturizers. I think we are now on the upward trend on CeraVe. We have a number of initiatives coming. On La Roche-Posay, we’re launching a new relaunch of Yalu B5, which is one of our best sellers in anti-aging, both with a serum and a cream.

We have new intense moisturizers coming on CeraVe. We have acne patches coming on CeraVe. We continue to believe very strongly in the power of dermatological beauty and of brands that are correlated to the world of aesthetics, such as SkinCeuticals, which leads me to a perfect segue to the question you asked me on Galderma. Right now, nothing’s changed. The fact that we did this great partnership and deal with Kering doesn’t change the situation on Galderma. There’s nothing new. We are still in our observation process. Nothing more to say on that topic.

David Hayes, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question is our last question, and it comes from Robert Ottenstein of Evercore. Please go ahead.

Robert Ottenstein, Analyst, Evercore: Thank you very much. I want to build on one of your prior comments about the importance of e-commerce to your business and the beauty business. Perhaps just narrowing things down on the U.S., Amazon has become an important channel now. You’ve done a terrific job with Lancôme there, I think, as the pioneer on prestige beauty. I was wondering if you can talk about the impact you see of Amazon’s success on the growth of the beauty market in general, channel dynamics, and your strategy. Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: I must say that indeed, first of all, we are very happy with our performance in e-commerce in general. As I said, we’re growing double digit. It’s around getting closer to 30% of our sales. I think it’s 28% as we speak today. Our e-commerce strategy relies on multiple partners from pure players such as Amazon, OT Mall in China, or JD, Social Commerce, and of course, the e-commerce platforms of our brick and mortar partners, be it Sephora, Walmart, in the U.S. I must say that overall, we are very happy of the situation with Amazon because it allows our brands to reach a larger number of consumers.

You know we were talking about the U.S., but 10 days ago, I was in India, where it’s clearly a game changer for us because whether it’s quick commerce or the traditional platform allows us to reach consumers all over the country, which we couldn’t do before. Going back to Amazon, it’s a very strong partnership. It’s recruiting new consumers to the brand. It’s also loyalizing some consumers that have discovered some of our brands in other channels. It’s a very, very dynamic momentum. I think it is indeed contributing to the growth of the market. We saw at the beginning of the year in the U.S. where there was a little bit of loss of traffic in the brick and mortar world in North America. E-commerce in general, and Amazon in particular, were remaining pretty dynamic.

Beauty is a category where you need the brick and mortar experience to smell, to touch the textures, to discover the brand, and have the full experience. It’s also a category where when you fall in love with a given product, whether it’s a new mascara, whether it’s a fragrance you love, the capacity to replenish and sometimes even to discover for categories that are a bit less sensorial, there’s a perfect complementarity. I really believe in what we call O+O, online plus offline strategy. That’s how we grow our brands, making sure, of course, that their equity is absolutely well served and protected in every channel we operate in. I hope that answers your question.

David Hayes, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L’Oréal: Okay. I think it was the last question. A big thank you to all for your attention, and talk to you in February.

David Hayes, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you very much. Good evening.

Conference Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.