L’Oréal has had a very good 2019: the company achieved its biggest increase in turnover in ten years and also saw its profits increase significantly. The cosmetics group also announced that it has appointed Ilham Kadri, CEO of Belgian chemical company Solvay, to the post of director.
Luxury brands
In 2019, the French group generated an increase in turnover of 10.9 % to 29.87 billion euros. While this came partly courtesy of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, sales without these effects were still up 8.0 %. All divisions improved, but the luxury division (including Lancôme and Kiehl’s) and the Active Cosmetics division (La Roche-Posay and Vichy) grew 17.6 % and 17.1 % respectively. The company’s online sales grew by more than 52 %.
Operational profit increased 12.7 % to 5.54 billion euros, while net profit (4.35 billion euros) was 9.3 % higher than a year ago. The profit growth is the combined result of rising turnover and relatively lower costs.
L’Oréal also announced that Ilham Kadri, a leading figure of Belgian company Solvay since the beginning of 2019, will become an independent director of the cosmetics company after the general meeting of 21 April. She will replace Google’s Eileen Naughton, Belgian newspaper De Tijd writes.
