by Although Beauty’s largest player continued to exceed the market as a whole, in 2024 it was not immune to the challenges of the market. The company described the year as “a story of two halves”, with a strong first six months, followed by a weakness last year due to the global slowdown and ongoing challenges in China. If it hadn’t been for the region of Northern Asia, sales in the high single -digit digits had expanded, it said.
L’Oréal sharpened its portfolio in 2024 with the acquisitions of the Miu Miu Beauty license and the South Korean skin care brand Dr. G. The deal with Miu Miu, whose license was previously carried out by Coty Inc., has been building successful partnership with Prada on L’Oréals since 2021. The first fragrances developed under L’Oréal are to come onto the market this year. Dr. G, previously owned by the Swiss retailer Migros under Gowoonsesang Cosmetics Co. Ltd., was in 2003 by the dermatologist Dr. Gun Young Ahn founded and, according to L’Oréal, is consistently one of the three most important brands for mass market and dermocosmetics in South Korea, according to L’Oréal. The brand closes alongside 3CE, another K-Beauty player that L’Oréal 2018 bought, to L’Oréals Consumer Products Division.
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There have also been several minority investments to get insights into growth categories and new segments. This included a 10% participation of the Pure Play Dermatology Leader Galerma, which went to the stock exchange last March. An investment in Yesskin, a Chinese skin clinic chain and participation in the Chinese mass market company Chando Group. L’Oréal also agreed to acquire the outstanding stocks of Gjosa, the water -saving pioneer with whom it has been working since 2015.
The renewed acquisition strips were continued until the beginning of 2025, with L’Oréal minorities in the nearby fragrance houses and the darling of the fashion world, Jacquemus, with the latter deal, including a beauty license, while his brave investment area for the South Korean fragrance took part in a financing round.
At the end of last year, the company sold the explanations and Saint Gervais Mont-Blanc to the newly founded French company Cospal. This March it announced to sell Carol’s daughter for structured hair to an unnamed entrepreneur, with the founder Lisa Price being involved in the brand and becoming his president.
Despite the top line numbers of 2024, some analysts found disappointing that L’Oréal doubled profits and achieved record and operating margins. Without Aēsop, acquired from Natura & Co. in 2023, the operating range grew by 40 basis points to achieve a record high of 20%.
In 2024, CEO Nicolas Hieronimus described as a “defining year” for the company with investments in the company’s future securing, including extended marketing and research and innovative skills with AI and technology. It continued to invest in Biotech and took part in Bold and partnership with British Biotech Senisca. It simplified its organizational structure and strengthened the resilience of the industrial and supply chain. The most important initiatives include a new fulfillment center in Suzhou, China and localized production for brands, including Cerave.
With regard to the performance, the growth of the consumer goods mass market department came from a balance between volume, price and mixture, since it conquered the possibilities for democratization and premium of the mass market. According to the company, L’Oréal Paris had “an excellent year”, and Mixa, the fastest growing brand of division last year, was extended to new markets. Strong dynamics in Europe and emerging markets such as Mexico, Brazil, India and Thailand equalize softer businesses in the USA and China.
According to reports, L’Oréal Luxe has grown in double digits, except in North America, in North America, where it became the greatest luxury beauty player, the largest growth provider for the first time. In China, L’Oréal Luxe remained the market leader despite the market softness and grew up and offline off the market, which was due to the expansion of Prada and Valentino and the latest acquisitions Aēsop and Takami. The addition of Aēsop and the growth of the fragrance led to the profits for the division as a whole, which, with the exception of North Asia, by 10%. The fragrance was driven by the paradox of Prada, who was born in Roma by Valentino, Libre by Yves Saint Laurent, for women and was sought by Armani by Armani, by Azzaro, Polo 67 by Ralph Lauren and Myslf by Yves Saint Laurent for men. Make -up was powered by Yves Saint Laurent. In skin care, Aēsop, Takami and adolescents expanded to people internationally with encouraging results, according to the company.
L’Oréals Dermatological Beauty Division was far the fastest growing and, according to the company, exceeded the global market for dermocosmetics market, which, despite a gradual slowdown, remains dynamic. The activity has come to a particularly good condition in emerging countries. The trademark of La Roche-Posay and the company said that it “took the baton” out of Cerave and became the third largest skin care brand in the world across channels. Despite the stabilization in the USA, Cerave crossed the sales threshold of 2 billion euros, which is due to international expansion. Vichy, Skinceuticals and Skinbetter Science have also made themselves well.
The acceleration of e-commerce and the growth of premium hair care in the selective distribution led to the profits for the Department of Professional Products, in which established and aspiring markets had been growing. Kérastase grew in double digits and became the largest brand of the division, while the performance of L’Oréal was “solid”, said L’Oréal.
In the region, Europe was the greatest growth in the economy in which Spain and Portugal, Great Britain and Ireland and Germany, Austria and Switzerland were the best artists.
At the beginning of February of this year, L’Oréal said that it was ready to sell around € 29.6 million in Sanofi for € 101.50 per share to Sanofi in order to take into account total care of € 3 billion in order to optimize its balance sheet. After the transaction, it will have 7.2% of Sanofi’s share capital.
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