Updated 5 p.m. ET on April 22
PARIS — L’Oréal’s first-quarter sales growth — driven in part by the Professional Products division — beat financial analysts’ expectations.
In the three months ended March 31, group sales reached 12.15 billion euros, up 3.6 percent on a reported basis. They gained 7.6 percent in like-for-like terms and 6.7 percent on an adjusted like-for-like basis.
L’Oréal outpaced Bloomberg consensus of a 3.5 percent increase by about 0.5 percent, when numbers were adjusted for the impact of the IT transformation in the first quarter of 2026.
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The maker of Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Kiehl’s and Vichy Laboratoires products adjusted like-for-like growth was significantly greater than that of the beauty market worldwide, which L’Oréal estimates to be close to 4 percent.
During a call with financial analysts and journalists on Wednesday evening, Nicolas Hieronimus, L’Oréal’s chief executive officer, said the company is “off to a good start” in 2026.
“We have been gaining share in all regions and divisions,” he said. “It was driven by a further acceleration in our innovation rate, as we launched several new products with blockbuster potential. This allowed us to further expand our market share in fragrances, hair care and makeup, while starting to see some green shoots in skin care.
“We continue to strongly outperform in e-commerce, particularly in emerging markets,” Hieronimus said. “Even if we are wary of the potential impacts of the Middle East conflict, we are optimistic about the outlook for the global beauty market, which has shown no sign of slowdown to date.”
He said L’Oréal is confident in its ability to outperform the market, since most of the group’s innovations from 2025 and in 2026 are off to a good start, and there is more to come.
“We have the teams, the means and, of course, the fighting spirit,” Hieronimus said.
When asked about the Middle East, where L’Oréal generates less than 3 percent of its overall sales, the executive explained he is mindful of the uncertainties surrounding the conflict there. So far, their effect is manageable.
Hieronimus said there was an impact on L’Oréal’s sell-out in March in travel retail and the United Arab Emirates.
“If we look at the situation [in the Middle East], we see that consumption has gone back to normal in Saudi, which is an important growth market for us,” he said. In the Emirates, e-commerce is mostly back to normal and people are buying again in the neighborhood malls.
“Where you still find a real impact is on the big tourist malls of Dubai and travel retail,” Hieronimus said. “We will see how things evolve in April and May, but we think it’s overall manageable in the region.”
Question marks remain over whether durable inflation on gas prices, due to the war, will impact consumer behavior.
“So far, and we’re monitoring this very closely, we have seen absolutely no reduction of beauty consumption in our markets,” Hieronimus said.
However, should the conflict in the Middle East last, there could be negative consequences on sourcing and logistics, for instance. The biggest risk is inflation. If that goes up over a long term, L’Oréal might need to raise product pricing later this year.
“We have a lot of opportunities in what we call revenue growth management, where the articulation of format, product mixes, etc., is also another way to protect our gross margin without necessarily taking prices up too much for consumers,” Hieronimus said. “That’s how we did it post-COVID.”
The Chinese beauty business is showing a slight rebound. After sales were up 1 percent at the end of 2025, the figure is now closer to 2 percent.
“That remains pretty solid,” Hieronimus said. “But the good news within the Chinese market is the fact that there’s been a shift back to selective,” which is driving the growth along with the bounce-back of Chinese consumers’ confidence.
L’Oréal grew its first-quarter sales in the midsingle digits in China, where the bulk of its business is in the selective category and the company is gaining market share.
The skin care market, growing by around 4 percent overall, is doing pretty well, according to Hieronimus. L’Oréal, whose skin care business underperformed in 2025, has put in place a plan that led to strong advances in the Dermatological Beauty division, with sales up 6.2 percent in reported terms and 10.8 percent on a like-for-like basis, for instance.
The robust showing from the Professional Products division, with sales up 14.5 percent on a reported basis and 15.5 percent on like-for-like terms, was due to its ongoing structural transformation to become omnichannel. The division supports and grows the salon market with innovation, while offering some premium hair care brands in certain selective markets and online, Hieronimus said.
“This happens at a time when hair care itself becomes a much more valorized, sophisticated and demanded category,” he said. “All over the world, hair is longer, people are concerned with hair loss.”
Plus, there are increasing mixed ethnic populations with curly, textured hair, which is more demanding care-wise. Hieronimus believes the Professional Products division’s growth is sustainable because the underlying demand expands and the fact that in mature markets only one hair care product out of 10 is premium.
“So there is room to grow,” Hieronimus said.
Although the fragrance market has slowed a bit, it remains positive. “We are growing much faster than the market,” he said.
Last year, YSL’s Libre fragrance became the number-one feminine fragrance worldwide, among other hits.
Hieronimus was asked if L’Oréal might be on the lookout for additional fragrance licenses, as there’s possible consolidation of fragrance players.
“We are firing on all cylinders on fragrances,” he said, adding Kering Beauté became part of L’Oréal on April 1. The integration of its brands and teams is taking place.
“We are not on the lookout for more brands in the fragrance world,” he said.
Hieronimus was asked about whether L’Oréal might obtain the Gucci fragrance and beauty license from Coty Inc. earlier than in 2028, when it’s due to expire.
He said L’Oréal is not part of any discussions between Kering, owner of the Gucci brand, and Coty.
“I have no news to give you on that front,” he said. “It’s just the beginning, and we are really excited.”
That’s not least about the brands’ potential, Hieronimus added.
The first focus will be on Creed, which is already a sizable business, and looking at the other two fragrance brands, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga.
Kering Beauté will have a dilutive effect on L’Oréal’s first-half results due to the step-up in inventory.
Hieronimus was requested to comment on whether there might be a chain reaction of consolidation within the beauty industry, after a “first move.” That was a reference to the Estée Lauder Cos. and Puig, which on March 23 said they were in discussions regarding a potential merger.
Hieronimus said he cannot comment on or make predictions on the industry’s consolidation. However, he explained the fact that there is a lot of movement or announcement of shifts is indicative of numerous elements.
“It [is] first of all the confirmation that beauty is a very attractive category, because some groups want to be more involved in [it],” Hieronimus said. “It’s one of the best-growing categories around the world.”
Second, is that scale and a strong brand portfolio are among the winning factors.
“But they’re not the only ones,” Hieronimus said. “You have to have innovation firepower. You have to have the agility, because being big is not always compatible with being agile. That’s what we are very focused on keeping at L’Oréal.
“Then, there’s the company culture,” he continued. “Having a company culture where people are aligned behind a mission, a way of doing things, is also a quintessential success factor.”
Herionimus does not know whether there will be more consolidation.
“But in the end, it’s good for the beauty industry to have players that Invest in it,” he said. “And it’s always good for us to be stimulated.”