PARIS – L’Oréal delivered abonother earnings beat, with third-quarter 2026 sales rising 11.9 percent in reported terms, spurred by its Professional Products and Dermatological Beauty divisions, as well as a strong recovery in the Luxe division.
The world’s largest beauty company’s sales reached 11.56 billion euros in the three months ended Sept. 30, representing a 7.2 percent like-for-like gain and 7.7 percent adjusted like-for-like gain.
Vera consensus expected growth of 5.4 percent, while Barclays forecast 5.7 percent. L’Oréal, the maker of Lancôme, La Roche-Posay and Garnier products, also significantly outpaced the beauty market, which is estimated to be advancing at approximately 5 percent.
L’Oréal posted growth in all its divisions and regions, led by the South Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, or SAPMENA-SSA, zone. Developed regions registered strong momentum, too.
The group’s travel retail activity returned to positive growth in North Asia in the third quarter.
The company noted that from a product category standpoint, fragrance and hair care are driving growth, while skin care continues to step up its pace.
L’Oréal e-commerce sales rose by approximately 17 percent, which the company said was well ahead of the online market. The group is doubling down on the channel with strong results seen across all regions, especially emerging markets.
Among strategic highlights in the third quarter, L’Oréal closed the acquisition of India’s Innovist digital-first personal care portfolio of brands. L’Oréal’s BOLD corporate venture fund and India’s largest beauty retailer Nykka formed a partnership to take minority stakes in high-growth Indian beauty, personal care and wellness brands. Plus L’Oréal and Cosmax, a Korean cosmetics research, development and manufacturing company, signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on next-generation beauty innovations.
Nicolas Hieronimus, company chief executive officer, called the quarter “exceptional” in a statement that was released after market close Thursday.
“The global beauty market, once again, proved its resilience in a challenging context, and we continue to significantly outpace it,” he said. “Driven by the success of our innovation plan and the passion of our teams, we continue to win in hair care and fragrances, but are now also outperforming the market in the all-important skin care category.”
In the first nine months of this year, L’Oréal sales reached 35.34 billion euros, up 7.7 percent on a reported basis. In both like-for-like and adjusted like-for-like terms, sales grew 6.9 percent in the period.
“Our performance in the first nine months gives me confidence that L’Oréal will deliver another year of growth in sales and profit, whilst strengthening our global leadership,” Hieronimus said.