L’Oreal reported 2014 earnings that matched analysts’ estimates as buying back its own shares from Nestle and a stronger dollar helped compensate for the weakest like-for-like revenue growth in five years.
Operating income rose to €3.89 billion euros, Paris-based L’Oreal said Thursday in a statement, the same as the average of 27 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Like-for-like sales increased 3.7 per cent, the slowest pace since 2009 when they fell 1.1 per cent.
Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon in November lowered expectations for 2014 by predicting global cosmetics market growth would be closer to three per cent than 3.5 per cent.
L’Oreal’s annual revenue rose slightly faster than that as sales at the troubled consumer-products unit that groups Garnier shampoo and Maybelline New York makeup rebounded in the fourth quarter.
"In an economic environment that is uncertain, but more favorable on the monetary front, all our teams are focused to ensure L’Oreal outperforms the market in 2015, and to deliver sales and profit growth,” Agon said in the statement.
Fourth-quarter sales at the maker of Yves Saint Laurent scents gained 4.9 per cent on a like-for-like basis, beating analysts’ estimates for 3.6 per cent growth. Sales at the consumer-products unit, L’Oreal’s largest, rose three percent, also more than predicted.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM
