L’Oréal Q1 Sales Rise 4.4% Amid Mounting Economic and Geopolitical Tensions

PARIS — L’Oréal’s first-quarter 2025 sales growth beat expectations amid a volatile market buffeted by economic and geopolitical pressures.

A mixed effect was noted in the three months ended March 30, including the U.S. being more challenging than expected, while China was slightly better than foreseen.

“Europe was, once again, our single largest growth contributor, and emerging markets remained dynamic,” said Nicolas Hieronimus, chief executive officer of L’Oréal, in a statement published after the market close Thursday.

The maker of Lancôme, Kiehl’s and Garnier products said in the statement that its sales in the period reached 11.73 billion euros, up 4.4 percent in reported terms and 3.5 percent on a like-for-like basis.

The world’s largest beauty company said its sales growth benefited from phasing linked to the 2024 and 2025 IT transformation, which resulted in a positive net impact of 100 million euros.

Financial analyst consensus had expected L’Oréal’s first-quarter sales to gain 1.3 percent in organic terms.

“In the current context, our priorities are to drive growth and manage our P&L to offset the impact of tariff hikes — with the benefit of an already very healthy gross margin,” continued Hieronimus. “We will, of course, continue to put the right fuel behind our 37 international brands to further reinforce our global leadership.”

L’Oréal looks to be in a good position to weather the mounting storm whipped up by U.S. import tariffs.

“L’Oréal’s U.S. business is relatively resilient to potential U.S. tariffs, with five factories in the U.S. and with a majority sold in the U.S. being made locally,” wrote Jeremy Fialko, head of consumer staples research, Europe, in a note. He added the L’Oréal Luxe and Dermatological Beauty divisions’ products are imported from the European Union, but well-positioned to cushion the tariffs’ impact due to their high margins.

“They also have some products manufactured in Mexico and Canada,” continued Fialko. “Therefore, by far the biggest risk comes from any consumer hesitancy linked to the tariffs or a squeeze on income resulting from price rises elsewhere. That said, L’Oréal may benefit should peers have to price more aggressively to offset the tariff hit.”

Hieronimus said he is confident L’Oréal will continue to outperform the worldwide beauty market, which the group expects will grow despite economic and geopolitical tensions, and to achieve again growth in sales and profits.

“We expect growth to accelerate progressively,” he said.