Worldwide advances

The Zone recorded growth, despite the unfavourable geopolitical context and sluggish markets, especially in the Middle East. Egypt and Morocco posted good growth, and all Divisions increased their market share. There was positive development in South Africa and Kenya, thanks in particular to the Consumer Products Division and the launch of the Mixa bodycare range.

The Consumer Products Division remains on track, and increased its market share in the makeup and hair colour segments, thanks to strong performances by L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline New York and Essie. In luxury, skincare is a highly dynamic segment, with Kiehl’s and IT Cosmetics outperforming the market. L’Oréal Luxe is also growing faster than its market in the fragrance category. In the Professional Products Division, growth is driven by the Redken and Matrix brands, and by the acquisition of Pulp Riot. The upturn in the sales of the iconic Kérastase brand is also worth noting. The Active Cosmetics Division posted a good performance with growth close to +20%, thanks to its brands CeraVe, SkinCeuticals, La Roche-Posay and Vichy, which are all delivering double-digit growth.

In 2018, Western Europe was affected by the sluggishness of some markets, including France and the United Kingdom, and by a slowdown in the makeup category.

L’Oréal Luxe is outperforming its market, thanks to the dynamism of Lancôme, Giorgio Armani and Kiehl’s, and the same is true of the Active Cosmetics Division, thanks to the rapid growth of La Roche-Posay and the roll-out of CeraVe. The Consumer Products Division is strengthening its positions in makeup, reflecting the good results of the Maybelline New York and Essie brands, and more recently in skincare, thanks to L’Oréal Paris anti-ageing products and Garnier cleansing.

Growth was driven by all four Divisions, but especially by Active Cosmetics. Across the countries, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania and the Czech Republic posted very dynamic growth. E-commerce is growing very quickly, by more than 50% .

The L’Oréal Luxe and Active Cosmetics Divisions are posting strong growth, and winning market share. In Brazil, the Professional Products Division is growing strongly, while the performance of the Consumer Products Division reflects ongoing challenges, but improved in the second half. The adjustment on 1 July to allow for hyperinflation in Argentina had a negative impact of -2.0% like-for-like on the Zone’s annual growth.

All four Divisions are winning market share. The dynamism of Chinese consumers, combined with the good performance of premium brands, and the rapid growth in several other South-East Asian markets, as well as in Travel Retail, were the Zone’s main growth drivers. The four Divisions posted robust fourth-quarter figures, thanks to the success of Singles’ Day (11/11) sales in China. The acquisition of Stylenanda in June strengthened the Group’s position in the Zone.