“The universalisation of beauty” is how Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oréal chief executive, describes his company’s mission. The market reaction to its first-half results on Wednesday was anything but beautiful. The shares fell 4 per cent as investors fretted about margin growth.
That might be a sign of things to come – with consumers becoming more choosy, L’Oréal and its peers have to spend more on advertising and promotion to keep sales growing. At least L’Oréal has some leeway – at 17 per cent, its operating margins are already in advance of peers such as Estée Lauder and Beiersdorf (both on 13 per cent).
But, like overgenerous application of L’Oréal’s make-up, excessive attention to quarterly changes in margins can obscure the bigger picture. For L’Oréal there are two wider questions. The first is what it will do with its balance sheet. Net debt was €4.5bn four years ago, but the company now has net cash and a newly announced €500m share buyback programme will not stretch its finances. So acquisitions are on the agenda and, although Mr Agon is coy about targets, he says he wants to buy products that will create organic growth. With market growth of only 4 per cent expected this year, that looks smart.
