French beauty brand L’Oréal grew in the first half of fiscal 2025; however, United States tariffs could spell trouble for its future.
In the first half, sales grew 3% year-on-year to 22.47 billion euros, with all divisions growing, led by professional products.
Europe saw the largest growth in sales in the first half, growing 3.4% to €7.53 billion with the business reporting “strong momentum” in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland.
The company also saw a return to growth in China, marking a success in the global beauty industry.
For Q2 2025, North America saw the most growth, rising 2.4% on a reported basis to €2.9 billion in sales, making the U.S. L’Oréal’s biggest growth driver in 2025, as the region also experienced 0.4% growth in the first half to €5.8 billion.
“The ongoing strength in emerging markets, the slight rebound in mainland China and the gradual recovery in North America more than offset the expected slowdown in Europe, once again validating our multi-polar model,” CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said.
North America also accounts for 27% of the company’s global sales, and manufactures half of what it sells in the U.S. through its four local factories.
However, the 15% increase in customs duties for EU imports to the U.S. could impact the business.
To mitigate this, L’Oréal said it had stockpiled products and might need to implement slight price increases on some products.
The company’s Hieronimus, said the tariffs are not good news to European cosmetic brands, but will be manageable for L’Oréal.
“I am confident that we will continue to outperform the global beauty market – which we expect to grow, even amidst the current economic and geopolitical tensions – and to achieve another year of growth in sales and an increase in our profitability,” he said.
At the time of writing, L’Oréal (EPA: OR) was trading at 388.55 euros, up 4% from Tuesday's close of 373.60 euros. The company maintains a market capitalisation of 198.5 billion euros.
