L\'Oréal operating profit climbs 7.7%
The French beauty giant has posted solid first half results despite a “difficult market context”
L'Oréal has posted “record” operating profits for the first half of 2013. Operating profit came to €2.04bn, climbing 7.7% on last year, while sales grew 5.4% on a like for like basis. Net profit meanwhile, grew 5.2% on last year's figure.
Commenting on the results, Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L'Oréal, said: "In the first half, in a market whose growth slowed down slightly, L'Oréal has continued to record good sales dynamics, and achieved further growth in profits. The group's competitiveness has improved once again, and is reflected in market share gains across all divisions and zones. Operating profit has reached a historically high level, with a good quality gross profit and an ongoing policy of sustained investments in Research & Innovation and in Advertising and Promotional growth drivers”.
All of the company's key divisions also performed well during the first half of the year, with the Professional Products Division seeing profitability climb from 19.9% to 20.1%, during what L'Oréal described as a “difficult market context”. The profitability of the Consumer Products Division, meanwhile, jumped from 19.9% to 20.8%, while L'Oréal Luxe profits grew from 19.5% to 20.0%, and the Active Cosmetics Division climbed from 26.1% to 27.3%.