By Helena Smolak
L'Oreal shares slumped early trading Friday after the company posted sales and profits below analysts' forecasts for 2023 amid a stagnating beauty market in China.
At 0826 GMT shares of L'Oreal traded 6.3% lower at EUR424.60, having reached their one-year high of EUR455.75 on Monday.
The French cosmetics giant said late Thursday that it posted sales of 41.18 billion euros ($44.39 billion) for 2023, up 7.6% in reported terms and 11% on a like-for-like basis.
L'Oreal's annual net profit increased 8.4% to EUR6.18 billion, while operating profit--closely watched by analysts and investors--grew 9.2% to EUR8.14 billion.
Analysts had forecast annual sales of EUR41.49 billion on a net profit of EUR6.25 billion and operating profit of EUR8.21 billion, according to consensus estimates by Visible Alpha.
Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-09-24 0344ET