Innovation
- Run 22 research centres and 13 evaluation centres around the world.
- Growth in the first half of 2026 came from volume and value, with a strong contribution from mix.
L’Oréal
Beauty for each, Long-term vision
Create the beauty that moves the world
Beauty for each
L’Oréal sells beauty in every category, at every price, in every region, through 40 international brands in four Divisions. It describes its strategy with two ideas: universalisation, taking brands worldwide while respecting local differences, and singularisation, beauty for each.
+11.6%
+4.3%
+5.1%
+10.6%
Professional Products
€2.9bn
Consumer Products
€8.6bn
L’Oréal Luxe
€8.0bn
Dermatological Beauty
€4.2bn
High-growth markets
L’Oréal’s high-growth markets are the US and emerging markets.
- Focus on consumer groups including Gen Z, men, and people over 60.
- SAPMENA–SSA grew 13.8% in the first half of 2026, the fastest of the five regions.
Beauty Tech
- Invest in research, digital technology, data, and the global development of the brands.
- E-commerce passed 30% of sales in 2025.
- It grew by double digits in the first half of 2026, nearly twice as fast as the market.
Operations
- Run 37 plants around the world with the latest advances in technology, automation, and digitalisation.
- The operating margin reached a record 20.2% in 2025, and 21.3% in the first half of 2026.,
- L’Oréal is the only company to be rated triple A by CDP for ten years in a row.
L’Oréal made six beauty deals in 2025
L’Oréal calls 2025 a historic year of strategic investments and acquisitions, adding brands both new and long established to its portfolio.
February 2025
Jacquemus
A long-term, exclusive beauty partnership with the Paris fashion house, with a minority investment.
June 2025
Medik8
L’Oréal agreed to buy a majority stake in the British skincare brand.
2025
Color Wow
One of the fastest-growing professional haircare brands.
October 2025
Kering Beauté
A long-term partnership with Kering, including Creed and the Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta licences.
December 2025
Galderma
L’Oréal bought another 10% of Galderma, taking its stake to 20%, to work together on aesthetic beauty.
From 1 July 2027
Gucci
A 50-year exclusive worldwide beauty licence, subject to regulatory approvals.
Two ideas that pull in different directions, both named.
Universalisation takes brands everywhere; singularisation makes beauty personal. L’Oréal names both and lets each Division balance them. We recommend naming the tension in a strategy rather than hiding it, so teams know both pulls are wanted.
Four Divisions, each with its own consumers and channels.
Each of L’Oréal’s four Divisions has its own vision of beauty, its own consumers, and its own distribution channels, and each reports its own growth and margin. We recommend dividing a large company by the customers and channels it serves, so each part can be judged on a market it can see.
A growth figure adjusted in the open.
In the first half of 2026 L’Oréal reported like-for-like growth of 6.8% and an adjusted 6.5%, adjusting for the timing of sales around its IT transformation, and gave the size of the adjustment. We recommend showing the raw figure beside any adjusted one.
Sources
- 1. L’Oréal (2026). Strategy. Annual Report 2025, accessed 28 September 2026. loreal-finance.com
- 2. L’Oréal (2026). 2025 Annual Results. Press release, 12 February 2026. loreal-finance.com
- 3. L’Oréal (2026). 2026 Half-Year Results. Press release, July 2026. loreal-finance.com
Headwater is not connected with L’Oréal S.A. or any of its brands. L’Oréal and the brand names mentioned are trade marks of their owners. Updated 28 September 2026.