L'Oreal boosted by pick-up in Chinese demand

Top French luxury goods companies L'Oreal and Kering reported strong third quarter sales due to a rebound in demand in key Chinese markets, which helped offset the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cosmetics giant L'Oreal said sales were down by 2.0 percent at 7.04 billion euros in the three months to September.

For the nine months to September, sales were up 8.6 percent from the same period last year at 20.11 billion euros as the company benefited from the rebound in China, where the market is ahead of the world in emerging from the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

China on its own showed a sales increase of 18.1 percent in the nine months while the broader Asia-Pacific was down just 1.9 percent.

L'Oreal made no forecast for the full year but said it expected a positive second half, with sales growing on a like-for-like basis, helped by soaring online demand – up more than 61 percent for the nine months and now accounts for nearly 24 percent of its business.