L'Oreal boosted by sales of make-up and perfumes as lockdowns ease

Maybelline owner L'Oreal on Thursday said sales growth had accelerated in the second quarter partly due to resurging make-up sales in the United States as Covid-19 lockdowns ease.

High-end fashion labels have benefited from booming Chinese and U.S. demand in recent quarters, helping revenues at luxury goods groups like LVMH return to pre-pandemic levels, and L'Oreal posted similar trends as vaccination campaigns progress and people begin to socialise more.

The French group, which also owns brands like Lancome and makes Armani beauty ranges, said sales of high-end perfumes were on the rise, while make-up revenues, which have been struggling for several years, were recovering.

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This helped some of the L'Oreal divisions which have faltered compared to others, such as the consumer goods unit that houses products sold in supermarkets.

Overall group sales reached 7.6 billion euros ($9.03 billion)in the second quarter, growing by 33.5% when stripping out currency swings and acquisitions. That was up from 10.2% like-for-like sales growth in the previous three months.

L'Oreal "is well positioned to continue to grow at its pre-crisis pace," chief executive Nicolas Hieronimus said, adding the group would pursue more product launches in the second half of 2021.