L’Oréal Third Quarter Sales Miss Expectations as China Buys Less

French cosmetics giant L’Oréal 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 Lancôme brands, said sales for the three months to the end of September were 10.28 billion euros ($11.11 billion), a 3.4 percent rise on a like-for-like basis at constant exchange rates.

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

Shares in Paris-based L’Oréal have lost 20 percent 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 percent in the third quarter, said the company, worsening from a decline of 2.4 percent 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’Oréal’s biggest region at a third of group sales, also slowed in the third quarter to 5.6 percent from 9.7 percent in the prior quarter.

Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Barbara Lewis

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In a call with analysts and investors, CEO Nicolas Hieronimus and CFO Christophe Babule said the company’s broad brand assortment will carry it through the downturn.